The Cullen Files
by bearandtheangel
Summary: FULL SUMMARY INSIDE - Rosalie knew everything about everybody in Forks High School, so she's nerved when the Cullens move to town and she can't figure out what it is about them that's bothering her so much. Things get weirder when people start going missing, and answers are demanded from the most unusual sources. AU / mainly all human / canon / M for hungry vampires
1. Chapter 1

Rosalie Hale took pride in the fact she knew everything there was to know about the students of Forks High School, Washington. But when Edward Cullen moves to town, she can't shake the fact there's something more to him. Though, no matter how hard she tries, she can't find out what's bothering her so much. Things get weirder when people in town start going missing and people start demanding answers from the most unusual sources. AU / OOC / mainly all human / all characters / canon

**AN: **HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'm a little late on that front but it's better than not at all, right? :D

Rated M for hungry vampire reasons. Don't read if you're uncomfortable with violence/mild bad language.

...

**Chapter One**

It was a rainy day in apathy Forks, Washington, which wasn't a huge surprise. The first thing the students of Forks' modest high school did when they piled into the large assembly hall – which smelt mildly of last term's gym socks and rubber netballs – was squeeze and shake their damp hair and sprayed their friends in the face with waves of rainwater.

Everything looked very picturesque and calm, only there was a sense of dread and pity in the students' solemn faces.

As it was, this was the fourth student death in the last three months.

"I trust you all know why you are gathered here today," the Mayor of Forks said, "so I will not begin to rehash what news reporters have already explained to you. Instead, let us all stand, for a minute's silence regarding the death of yet another bright, talented student here at Forks' High School."

The students stood silently, respectably.

Among the students was Rosalie Hale, a stunning, blonde girl with the face and body of a supermodel. She was used to all the attention being on her, but lately, given the awful circumstances surrounding the school, the student's directed their attention elsewhere; she had missed the stares in the hallway, the little glances boys would give her as she sauntered down the classroom aisle with the same grace and charisma as a runway model.

She didn't really blame them, but she couldn't pretend she wasn't pissed of that everybody had suddenly left her side to comfort Mike Newton, acting as though they knew his sister personally. When, just a few months ago, they couldn't give a second thought towards him or his puppy dog face.

The Mayor told the students to sit back down as he reached his podium again.

"Olivia Newton was an intelligent girl with an incredible amount of love and respect for our school and you, her peers."

Some girls were crying into their sleeves, while others rolled their eyes. They'd all heard the same speech over and over again, only with a different girl's name in the place of Olivia's, a post-grad student who occasionally came back to Forks to teach a small drama class on Saturday's in the Town Hall.

Rosalie sniffed. She felt bad for Mike, but at the same time, she wished everybody was smiling again. School was no fun when you were surrounded by miserable people. Everybody just needed a lift of spirits. Though, she supposed it wasn't really their fault that students kept going missing and eventually ended up being found dead...

Had nobody bothered to call the FBI? A town enveloped in forests which was prone to animal attacks – just ask Billy Black, the town sheriff's second-in-command who was permanently stuck in a wheelchair because a foreign bear attacked him while he hunted – was supposedly at risk of these sorts of things, and nobody should worry about any other claims.

Rosalie wasn't convinced. She'd seen all of the horror movies, and it couldn't have been a coincidence that bloody bodies of young, pretty girls show up in the same spot, same time every few months.

"Furthermore," the Mayor continued. "As of this morning, we have made the decision to hire a new head of town's council following the departure of Mr Newton from this position. Ladies, gentleman, please welcome to the stage, Dr Carlisle Cullen."

Students clapped monotonously. Few recognised him, as the Doctor who was interviewed on Forks' small news station which first aired the news of Olivia's attack.

Rosalie squinted at him. He was a light-haired man who looked to be around twenty-three years old with brilliant golden eyes and a half-English sophisticated voice, of which he presented in a polite manner, addressing most of the town that were crammed into the assembly hall.

"I cannot imagine the pain and suffering you all are feeling," he said gently, "which is why I will be branching a full investigation into the attacks, ensuring that they do not happen again. As a father, a Doctor and a husband, I would not wish this pain on anybody."

Was it not only two weeks since Mr Newton had explained the same?

It was all very well and good until it _did_ happen again, and again, and again...

Rosalie got the feeling Mr Mayor would be hiring a lot of new head council members in the following months.

Once the assembly ended, the students were ushered row-by-row until there was only the Mayor, his team and the other council members left in the hall. The students could only guess what they were saying inside. Maybe they were planning a start-by-scratch intervention and new safety precautions were set to be carried out, as Dr Cullen promised.

It would be the first time a member of the council kept a promise in the last few months.

Rosalie found herself standing in the parking lot, surrounded by a group of her friends. Tanya Denali, whose strawberry-blonde hair was loose in waves down her back. Her sister Kate, whose eyes held a strange, green reflective gaze; they were shiny with tears. Tyler and Carmen, who, to the disgust of Carmen's brother Garrett, were locked in an embrace nobody had the heart to break.

"Trust you to come back from winter break with even tanner skin than when you left," Tanya intoned, pouting.

Rosalie smiled. She was comforted with Tanya's jealousy.

"It won't last," Garrett said dully, turning his glare away from Tyler and Carmen. "Forks will suck the life and tan out of you soon enough."

"How long have you been here again, Garrett?" Kate tried. She wiped her pale, freckled nose with the sleeve of her cashmere cardigan. "Because you seem to have no life left."

Garrett ruffled her hair good-naturedly.

"Oh my _God_ – who is _that_?"

Tanya gave Rosalie's hand a firm squeeze as a silver car parked just a few feet away.

"Nice car," Garrett commented.

"Nice _body_," Kate giggled.

Rosalie stepped forward to get a better look at the Volvo-driving stranger who was just stepping out of his car. His eyes were framed with thick, dark shades. His hair was bronze, almost Tanya's colour, yet with tinges of blonde from the sun. And though his hair was sun-lightened, his skin was fantastic porcelain.

Rosalie's breath caught in her throat.

"It's that new kid from Alaska," Tyler said, not bothering to turn around.

"Tanya, he just looked at you!" Kate exclaimed.

"No, he didn't," Rosalie dismissed, irritated. Why would he bother to look at Tanya when Rosalie was two feet away from her? If anything, he was looking at her – why else would his pale, thin lips have twisted into somewhat of a smile?

"We're just teasing you, Rose," Kate said, a little taken aback. Rosalie frowned as the group walked into the school, through the heated office.

The new boy from Alaska was stood with his back to the group at the office's main desk. Rosalie tried to steal his attention, but all she could get from him was a few hushed words directed at the office attendant. She replied back sternly, but something in his face made her stop, check again. It appeared whatever he had said, he had been right about.

"Maybe he needs somebody to show him around," Carmen offered, completely friendly, but Tanya and Kate cracked up laughing.

"I volunteer!" Kate gasped between giggles.

Rosalie pushed past her towards the set of junior's lockers, their vexatious attitudes getting on her last nerve. Couldn't the poor boy have some space before he was pounced upon by eager teenage girls? And what about Kate, who had gone from mourner to desperate in point two seconds?

"I totally didn't mean that," Carmen said, rolling her eyes. She always did act older and more mature than the rest of the group – perhaps because she had been used to mothering Garrett, who was considerably older than her yet never managed to graduate high school.

"We know," Tanya said, still laughing.

The boy emerged from the office, coolly flicking up the collar on his leather jacket. "I always liked bikers," Kate sighed. Tanya giggled from behind her while Rosalie glared at the back of her head. First day back, and she was already annoying her – by this rate, it wouldn't be Forks sucking the life out of her, but Kate.

The boy's face was unchanging. He ambled past the students, careful not to step on the makeshift memorial set up for Olivia at the end of the hall.

Rosalie watched him, fascinated, yet annoyed. Why hadn't he acknowledged her? She wasn't hard to miss.

The bell rang, snapping Rosalie sharply from her narcissism.

The group walked together towards the main staircase; Kate and Garrett parted to their respective sophomore and senior classes. Tyler and Carmen linked hands, while Tanya and Rosalie walked ahead. The two girls were eager to see if the new boy from Alaska would be in their class.

"Slow down," Tanya said.

"As if," replied Rosalie, rolling her eyes.

At times their competitive natures got in the way of an otherwise brilliant friendship, but they didn't stop. Sometimes were friendlier than others. Now, they shared a long parting glance and entered their history classroom.

The new boy was in fact in their class, and he sat at a desk at the front, besides the window, away from the rest of the students. Most of them already had their preferred seats from last term, and no one wanted to sit by the new kid. So Rosalie did what she would've done anyway (even if it involved kicking somebody else out of their preferred seat) and sat right behind him.

Tanya glared at her from the other side of the classroom.

With Mr Banner being unusually early, Rosalie didn't have a chance to talk to the boy, which, in a way, she was happy about. What would she say? She hadn't a good history of being wise with her words; she usually just spoke without thinking. She would either insult somebody directly, or indirectly. There was no in-between. What if she accidently made a comment about his just average height, or his glasses; was he blind? Was that the reason he wouldn't take them off? If so, where was his dog?

As if by cue, Mr Banner started the lesson, and Rosalie was left with just her thoughts, thanking whatever God there may be that she didn't ruin her chances and making an internal promise to herself to try after the lesson.

"As you may already know – which I guess you do considering how much you are staring - we are welcoming a new student today," Mr Banner said, and the girls in the class burst into a frenzy of giggles. Rosalie gritted her teeth. Way to make the kid feel like a freak.

She also noted that Tanya wasn't giggling, which made a change.

"Mr Edward Cullen," he continued. He pointed with his board rubber at Edward, who had his head ducked.

_Cullen? _Rosalie sat up in her seat. As in, Dr Carlisle Cullen's son? She vaguely remembered him making a comment about it in assembly, but at the time it just passed her by. She was too busy thinking about herself to care. But Dr Cullen was far too young to have a seventeen year old kid. He must have been adopted.

Rosalie tuned Mr Banner out as soon as he started talking again.

After handing out last term's pop-quizzes, Mr Banner stopped beside Edward and Rosalie. "Mr Cullen," he addressed Edward politely. "I didn't want to make a show of it before, but wearing sunglasses indoors is actually not allowed. I'm sorry, but you've got to hand them in."

Rosalie glared at Jessica Stanley, a girl a few rows away who loudly gasped at Edward as soon as his glasses disappeared. Still, she wanted to know what was so interesting. Did he have the same impossibly golden eyes that his adoptive father possessed? Rosalie didn't know what was so stare-worthy about that, though. Her eyes were lilac, something which nobody saw very often. She supposed her and Edward Cullen shared something in common then; everybody thought she wore contacts. And Dr Cullen's eyes definitely sparked up a few snide comments.

There, she had what she was going to talk to him about.

"Right," Mr Banner said, stood up and cleared his throat. Even he looked a little surprised. "Back to the lesson."

The lesson was far too long for Rosalie's liking. She didn't mind history, and she certainly didn't mind that they were learning about John F. Kennedy. She didn't mind that at all. And Mr Banner could be nice. She answered questions right, snickered when Tanya didn't.

She couldn't wait to get out and talk to Edward.

The bell rang, and he sprung out of his seat with a gasp. A few students cleared away from their desks in order to let him past. Rosalie frowned. He was fast; he ran out of the room. Mr Banner stared, awestruck. So did a few other students. Including Tanya.

"Weirdo," Tyler commented dismissively.

Rosalie gathered her things together and followed; the class parted like the red sea as she walked through. She was growing more irritated – where the hell could this boy be going? Her knowledge suggested that this was his only time in Forks High School, so how could he know his way around so much that Rosalie wasn't able to find him in three separate corridors?

Rosalie eventually found him, in the parking lot, fumbling around with his glasses, which he'd grabbed from Mr Banner's desk in his heated exit. Rosalie stepped forward, her heels scrunching the left over snow under her feet. What the hell was his problem?

She started slowly, gently. "Edward. I came to see if you were alright. That was pretty rough in there."

His voice was so soft, so much like velvet, that she almost didn't hear him when he said, "You need to go back inside. Please." She was surprised he didn't turn around. He just stared at the ground, waiting for her to leave.

But she wasn't about to be snubbed, not in front of the little crowd that had starting growing in the hallway opened to the east side of the parking lot, besides the little courtyard where Rosalie had had her first kiss in seventh grade.

"Edward..."

He spun around, his hands grabbing her wrists in a tight grip. She wasn't sure, but she might have screamed a little bit. Because this wasn't the face of a new boy from Alaska with a voice resembling that of the softest fabric. This was the face of a monster; a complete, raging monster like in horror movies.

"You need to leave," he said, releasing her hands. She took turns to rub them, but didn't move otherwise. She refused to look into his black-as-night eyes, or at the little scars underneath them, at the corners. Her hands didn't hurt, but her head did. She was confused and so determined to beat Tanya in getting to talk to Edward, becoming friends with him, maybe something more, that she ignored the fullness her throat was full with.

So, instead of letting herself cry, she said, "You don't want to be late for second period. Come on, I'll walk you if you want." Then she spun on her heel and walked away from him.

...

**AN: **So, what a meeting, huh? I realise that it was kinda rough and he's been in their school for all of an hour but we're just going to say things move fast in Forks, aren't we? Please let me know what you thought. :D

P.S. I was originally going to introduce Bella and a little bit of Jacob in this chapter but that didn't end up happening because this felt like a better place to end it. So you'll probably get a glimpse of Jacob and a ton of Bella in the next chapter as well as meeting Emmett for the first time (which, again, was supposed to be in this chapter, but we'll deal with that next time, yes?)

**Soundtrack:**

The State of Dreaming – Marina and the Diamonds

(feel free to suggest relevant songs!)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **I wish I could add more than two characters in the little description thing. It's either Edward and Rosalie or Emmett and Rosalie and right now it seems more the first, but I don't like that. Sheesh. Somebody should fix this. -_- (In answer to your review, Guest, it's an Emmett and Rosalie fic. The last chapter just was more Rosalie as the point I stopped at seemed reasonable enough without ruining it – otherwise Emmett would've been here by now!)

Also, I forgot to mention in the first chapter: I do not own Twilight! It seems silly to me that I have to clarify this, when I think it's pretty obvious. xD But, now you know, in case you already didn't, that Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. Shock.

...

**Chapter Two**

"Aaa!"

Edward had delicately pressed a finger beneath his eye to test the pain, with disastrous results. His eyes throbbed; the little pink scars had yet to fade. So, he placed on his black glasses, wincing ever so slightly as the cool plastic glass hit his lower lashes, and walked downstairs.

Carlisle Cullen sat at the head end of the table, jotting something down into a little black journal that Edward was used to seeing pressed in between some old family photo-albums on the large mahogany bookshelf in his bedroom.

"Anything interesting?" Edward asked.

Carlisle peeked up at his son. "Not much," he said, closing over the journal. "Was that you I heard screaming?"

"Who else?" Edward said. He nodded towards the wall size window behind Carlisle, for a clear view of Esme, his mother, who was re-organising the deck for the third time that week.

There had never been much in Forks to do without risking dying of boredom.

"Edward?"

"Hmm?"

Carlisle sighed, reluctant, then rubbed his golden eyebrows. "We have to talk," he said and pulled out a newspaper from under the table. He'd obviously been hiding it from Edward.

"I have no idea – _oh_," he gasped.

On the front cover, Olivia Newton was smiling eerily at him. But besides her, in a different section, there was another missing person's ad. A young girl, about a year younger than him, was smiling, too. A school photo of some sorts that her parents had desperately lent to the police force in an attempt for their daughter to be recognised.

He knew what this meant: The murders were happening closer and closer together.

And that was it; there was no doubt in his mind that Carlisle was looking at another murder case.

"What are you going to do?" Edward wheezed.

"_I'm_ not going to do anything," Carlisle said, his tone taking on that of somebody years and years older than him. "Chief Swan has been in contact with me. He'll be over to discuss the matters later on; you should change, brush your hair, get a shower."

"Of course," Edward said. But there was somewhere he needed to be first and he didn't even bother to ask Carlisle; he knew he would understand.

...

A few hours later and Carlisle still hadn't called him back to the house. He was relying on his father's word before he made a move. He didn't have to be at home when Chief Swan was visiting, right? It would purely be a visit based upon Carlisle's new status as head of town's council.

Right?

He pushed all the other thoughts out of his head as he cautiously stroked the sore area under his eyes. He let out the breath he was holding; the skin he felt was soft, smooth. Nothing like what it was earlier on. So, feeling a little better about himself, he could return, hoping the meeting with Chief Swan was over, for good.

As he walked, he soaked up his surroundings. The trees were slimier, mossier; the grass was moister; the sky was a warming shade of blue quilted in fluffy bone-white clouds. There was a little purple-and-white flowered meadow which sat idyllically behind a large white mansion.

Edward instantly recognised who lived there.

Rosalie Hale, the heartbreakingly perfect girl who he had terrified at school that day. He sucked in his breath again, feeling oddly sick. She had a younger brother who Edward could hear playing in their back garden, and a mother who was cooking something Esme would wrinkle her nose at; something organic, green.

Without warning, he growled. He wanted to get out of there – and fast. And it wasn't just the unusual dinner that made him want to run, either, but something else. Something in the pit of his stomach that felt horrifyingly like guilt, regret. Over moving to Forks? Over almost hurting Rosalie?

Whatever the reason, he carried on running, until his house came full in view. Carlisle was watching him from behind the stove in the kitchen, like he awaited his arrival.

"He's been and gone," Carlisle said once Edward burst into the kitchen.

"What did he say?" was what Edward asked.

"You were right not to come back," was all Carlisle replied.

Edward passed Esme on the stairs and she gave him a small, supportive smile. But he could see something wasn't right – the way Esme held herself, the way Carlisle had stared at him stiffly, like he'd done something wrong, when they both knew he hadn't.

A knot formed in his stomach.

He could hear somebody else clearly above Carlisle and Esme's slow, mumbled chatter in the kitchen, and it wasn't Chief Swan.

He burst up the remaining stairs and pushed open his bedroom inhaling an unfamiliar obnoxious, foreign scent. The curtains were open. The only light shone from an ancient-designed lamp that Edward loathed but had been around longer than he had. A familiar figure sat on the window pane, watching him.

He could swear he could see a smile on his face in the dark.

"Hello, brother," he said, stepping out of the dark; Edward watched him through slit-eyes. "Long time no see. This place hasn't changed a bit, am I right?"

Edward didn't wait to attack.

...

Ten minutes into the school day, and Rosalie was already irritated. Kate was nattering about something Rosalie really couldn't care less about and Tanya was staring at herself in her car window, eyeing Edward Cullen, who was standing behind them at his usual parking spot.

Rosalie couldn't help but notice that the weird, baby-pink scars were gone, as if they were never there in the first place. She thought at first she may have imagined them, but judging by Garrett's narked, dark tone paired with what he was actually saying, she hadn't.

"I bet it's that family of his," he was saying, absentmindedly tapping his feet against Rosalie's car body. She wanted to swear at him to get him off the bonnet for ignoring her rules once again, but she couldn't get a word in edgeways. "They're so... odd. Why would anybody think of moving here, the most boring place on earth–?"

"Not to mention the weather," Tyler added.

"– when places like Florida exist."

"If you hate Forks so much, why don't you move to Florida?" Rosalie spat, poking his knee harshly with her forefinger and causing him to jump off the bonnet. "You're old enough to be without your parents now."

Garrett rolled his eyes. "Just because Cullen rejected you, doesn't mean you have to take it out on the rest of us," he said, folding his arms over his chest.

"He didn't reject me. I didn't even ask him out, for your information – not that you deserve to know, asshole." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and smiled. "Yet."

She hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder, ignored Tanya's glare and walked over to where Edward was standing. He didn't notice her at first, but when he did, he really did.

"Oh! Rosalie," he started.

"Quit the blabbering," Rosalie instructed. "I just wanted to let you know that there's a bonfire tonight in honour of Olivia Newton and you should probably come. It would look kinda sketchy if you didn't; the whole town will be there," she added.

"Will you?" he asked quietly.

"_Obviously_." She rolled her eyes. "The whole town." Then, on second thought... "You don't look to well," she said, scrunching up her petite nose and frowning. "Do you want me to take you to the nurse's office?"

"I'm okay," Edward said.

"Are you sure? Kate's weird about death, too. If you are, you don't really have to come," she told him, retracing her earlier words. "But you should. I mean, I'd like you to."

He shook his head. He wasn't wearing those obnoxiously large square glasses anymore and she could see how pretty – and alike his adoptive father's – his eyes were. Though, she thought they were black.

"Your eyes," she said suddenly.

They widened.

Then Rosalie laughed. "Never mind." She had probably just imagined them being back due to first-day-back nerves. It was completely plausible. It didn't explain the absence of those scars, but she decided to let that one slide. If he was being hit by his parents – or scratched, or burned – then it wasn't any of her business.

Not that she'd rule out telling anybody with Edward's best interests in heart. On that note, she could ask him about it at the bonfire; it wasn't right to assume like the rest of the school had.

"So, we should get going," she said, glancing at his backpack. Bless him – it was still flat and empty since he'd only been there a day.

"Yeah, um..." Edward trailed off. Rosalie raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at him. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry... for hurting you yesterday..."

"Oh, it didn't hurt." Rosalie laughed. "Don't worry about it – I shouldn't have surprised you like that."

Edward's golden eyes widened in shock. She was... _letting him off_? Essentially, anyway. He knew he'd stayed careful enough not to grab her so hard that it would leave a mark, even hurt her in any way. But it was still an awful thing of him to do. She was so calm about this, when he'd been fretting about it for 12 hours non-stop.

"Come on," Rosalie said, "let's go inside."

So they went, with Tanya watching over them jealously.

...

Bella Swan padded up the stairs of Forks High School in her scuffed Doc Martens; she was already over five hours late. Inside, Mrs Mann watched her with sharp, harsh eyes – her head teacher had never been fond of Bella in all the 17 years she'd been in Forks not counting the summer she spent with her mother and her new step-father in Arizona.

Bella spun around, grinning. "Bye, Jake!" she called to the bottom of the stairs, where Jacob Black stood, accompanied by his motorbike. He shook his head, his dark, semi-long dog-like hair covering his eyes. He swept them out of the way with an oil-dirty hand.

"You're so _bad_, Bella," he yelled back, stepping onto his motorbike. "Call me when you need picking up!"

"If I'm not in detention for the rest of my junior year," she said loudly, but he was already zooming off on his bike. She sighed contently; she wished she could just spend the whole day with Jacob, riding around perpetual roads without wearing a helmet and seeing who would fall off first when Jacob rounded the narrow corners.

Mrs Mann was waiting for her with her eagle-like eyes cruel, looking at Bella like she was filth. "Isabella Swan" – Bella flinched at the use of her ladylike full name – "where have you _been_? For the past two days we have been calling your father worried _sick_ about your whereabouts – he didn't know where you were either!"

She looked like she was going to explode in fury if Bella didn't step in.

"He knew I was with Jake," Bella said. In her defence, she did leave a note explaining this.

"Oh and being with _Jake_ is better than being in school, is it?"

"Actually–"

"Don't answer that. Get to class, Isabella," her head teacher told her, shaking her blond head in disapproval. "I'll be back to deal with you later."

Bella liked to think of herself as the female John Bender of her school with the same rebellious attitude and approach to school work and life. Mrs Mann was like the annoying teacher who crops in detention to purposely ruin your life – as if it wasn't ruined enough. Only, none of the other students were as cool as the other characters in The Breakfast Club. Maybe she would actually come to school if they were.

Rosalie Hale was standing by her locker, applying some kind of Chanel lip-gloss and admiring herself in the self-installed mirror inside. When Bella walked past, she gave her a dirty, evil glare.

"Have fun playing with your puppy dog?" she sneered while smearing another coat of the pink gloss on her full lips.

"At least I have somebody to play with," the brunette girl responded. She was always usually on edge with her wit but with Rosalie Hale, she didn't even have to try to make her mad.

Bella honestly didn't know why Rosalie was the most popular girl in school. Tanya, if needy and attention seeking, was a nicer person _and_ pretty. But apparently Rosalie only inherited one of those traits. She was a narcissistic bitch who bullied her way to the top of the schools hierarchy.

Rosalie slammed her locker shut. "_Slut_," she said through her teeth. "Make sure you wash your hands – if only it will get rid of the herpes."

Bella laughed despite herself.

The period after lunch – the period she was ten minutes late for – was P.E. She didn't hurry to get changed and instead typed out two text messages; one to her father and one to Jacob:

_Dad. Sorry, stayed at Jake's last night. Got mixed up with time. But however late Mrs M says I am, she's lying. I totally would've made first period if Jake's bike didn't break down. – B x_

_I miss you already. :( If Dad asks, your bike broke down. See ya later loser if I'm not grounded or if I don't have an 84 hour detention. – B x_

Then she threw her phone down and locked around the locker room. Tanya Denali's ridiculously expensive designer bag lay on the end of the bench. Apparently whatever was in there – more designer crap – wasn't worth locking away. Oh, how easy it would be to steal: it would give her a considerable amount of money towards her car fund.

She shook her head, clearing the alien thoughts away. She liked Tanya – a bit. Well, she liked her with her mouth closed. And she wouldn't risk being caught no matter how funny Mrs Mann's face would be.

She sighed again. She wished she could ditch P.E. How come Rosalie Hale got to? She bet her doctor's note was baloney – something like a permanently deformed neck from a fault in her Egyptian cotton pillows. Perhaps there was a pea under her mattress that formed a knot in her back.

Whatever the excuse, she bet it was better than her lame "I don't know the rules" one. From experience, that just meant the whole class turned to watch you at every moment, making sure you got it right. Mike Newton once even tried to teach her the rules of netball which, in her mind, shouldn't even exist to begin with.

She heard the coach's whistle and groaned. _Here's to a torturous hour in the hands of Coach Clapp, _she thought.

...

Edward spent P.E. class sitting behind the bleachers thinking. His father had given him an excuse note but he wouldn't have had to play anyhow since he didn't have a kit to play in. So, he contented himself with sitting somewhere where nobody could see him, venting silently to himself.

_How _could Emmett be back?

_How _could Emmett be _alive?_

He thought back to that one fateful night two summers ago. He'd made sure Emmett could never walk again, with the help of a few friends, none the less, but he'd done it. So how on earth could he be back, alive, without a mark on his body?

He thought back then to what Carlisle said. _He's our son, too, Edward. We love him just as much as we love you. _But Edward knew deep down Carlisle didn't mean it. Maybe he wanted to take Emmett out by himself though he'd need a lot of strength for that.

Emmett was the strongest man he knew.

Suddenly, he didn't want Carlisle to get hurt. If his dad got hurt then Esme would...

He felt the bleachers shift behind him as his strength got in the way. Seething, he stood up, punched the air dramatically as to not hurt himself or any of the walls around him, and then let out a low growl. If Emmett touched Carlisle or Esme, he'd rip him apart. He'd be certain this time that Emmett could not, under any circumstances, walk, run or _breathe _again.

He let out the breath he was holding and clenched his fists. The bell rang. Just one more hour until he was home.

...

Bella walked to her biology lesson miserably. P.E. had taken all of her time and effort: Coach Clapp recognised that she was late and made her play volleyball with the best players who were playing in front of not just one but two P.E. classes. She fell over at least seventeen times; she had about as much skill at volleyball as a baked potato would.

It was the highlight of her life.

Now, biology. It wasn't her favourite subject but she liked their teacher moderately. He was a balding man with a fetish for onions who wore unnecessary glasses on the end of his nose and spoke in an English/bad French accent.

Nobody was sitting at the front row so she sat down, placing her backpack on the floor by her feet and ignoring the other students' stares. Who cared that she'd gotten an eyebrow piercing over winter break? She looked fierce and anybody who denied that would be getting her Doc Marten boot up a place where they don't want it.

Rosalie walked in and Bella grimaced. She was even worse than Paris Hilton – and that was saying something!

"What the hell?" Rosalie said, stopping at Bella's desk. Bella peered up at her innocently. "You're sitting in my seat Isabella. Move it or Japup gets it."

Half of the class didn't know about Jacob other than knowing he was the guy who resembled a puppy and rode a motorbike to his school down in La Push. It was only Rosalie who knew him well enough to know how much he meant to Bella.

Bella snarled. "Shut up, Blondie," she said, stealing one of Jacob's nicknames. "His name is Ja_cob_. And you won't hurt him; you won't go near him."

"No, you're right. His wet dog stench would probably violently kill me," Rosalie said, and it was followed by a remark along the lines of: "Isa_smell_a and Smelly Doo. _Ruff, ruff, ruff_!" A member of Rosalie's legion. Bella knit her eyebrows together and clenched her fists at her sides trying desperately not to punch whoever said it even though it sounded like something Jacob would have said in fourth grade. The rest of the class laughed hysterically.

Rosalie walked to a seat at the back, satisfied with all eyes on her and not on anybody else. Then she remembered that Bella was sitting in the seat she had reserved for herself and Edward and she pulled a face. Instead of sitting by Edward, giving him her number and generally impressing her with her A* knowledge of biology, she'd have to sit by Tanya and listen to her chew her pen and get her slobber all over the lid.

She frowned, taking a seat. It was going to be a long lesson especially with Tyler's fat head in her way. She wanted to pick up Tanya's pen lid and throw it at his head, but she didn't want whatever germs Tanya possessed – even if she was wearing gloves; she'd still want to bleach her hand if she touched it.

Edward was late to the lesson. As soon as he stepped in, his eyes fell on Bella and he looked seriously damaged, pained. Rosalie couldn't have smiled wider; he could come and sit by her and leave Tanya with Bella – they'd get along great with their spit diseases and equal terrible sense of humour and style and lack of intelligence.

Rosalie bet Edward was intelligent: he had that incredible look about him that made him seem like he'd lived a thousand lifetimes.

Then Edward was sitting down by Bella – as far away as he could – as if her smell was stinging his nostrils. At one point, Rosalie noticed Bella sniff herself as though she really did reek. This made Rosalie frown. Sure, she henpecked Bella and made jokes about her puppy friend and said she smelled, but she didn't actually mean it.

Bella had once meant a lot to her if you could believe it.

When the final bell rang – and Tanya stopped nattering about Kate and Garrett and how she thinks something is going on with them and something her father told her about in the newspaper – Edward stood and darted out of the room; he couldn't have been any quicker, slicker. Rosalie caught sight of Bella, with tears rimming her eyes, though they both knew Bella would never cry in the middle of class, school, church: she just wasn't a crying type of person.

Rosalie swallowed her pride and tapped Bella on her back. "Bella, I–"

"Go to _hell_, Barbie _Bitch_," Bella spat and followed Edward even quicker than he had left.

Rosalie took a few moments to process Edward's reaction to sitting besides Bella and what Bella had just said to her until she realised Tyler and Tanya were calling her to come with them. "I'll just be a minute," she said, eyebrows furrowing, lips pouting.

Either Edward was bipolar or Bella had said something secretly to upset him greatly.

Rosalie shrugged and hoisted her leather bag higher on her shoulder. She had tried to be nice to Bella, to find out what was wrong, to talk to her properly without insulting her; Bella had thrown it back in her face.

That was her one nice deed for the year done.

...

"Just take me anywhere," Bella said through her gritted teeth. They were grinding together so hard that Jacob felt her jaw was going to fall on his back any minute. "Anywhere but just get me anyway from this shithole."

It was already dark as Bella's detention had been two hours long: six o'clock was when Mrs Mann had been obliged to let her go. She still had a week's worth of detentions after school though and she was sure the office had called her father, maybe even her mother and Phil all the way in Arizona.

Oh, well. She wanted to go back to Arizona and she didn't want to go back to living with Charlie, her overprotective, needy father who was constantly burning Bella's dinner and not giving her enough allowance so she couldn't buy a car and just generally being a butthead.

"Alrighty, then," Jacob said. He drove until he felt Bella getting cold, when he stopped to give her his jacket. Then they drove again for two, three, four hours; they'd lost count.

"We should eat," he said, slowing the bike.

_"No!"_ Bella protested, slamming her fists against his back. Apparently she wasn't over what had happened that day at school.

"_Bella_. I've said this before: ignore the blond bitch and just focus on graduation," he said gently. "It's only what, a year and a half? You'll be out of there in no time. Trust me."

"It's hard to trust somebody who keeps lying to you," Bella sneered, and since Jacob was half off the bike, she had enough energy to push him that little bit further until he was standing and Bella was sat where he normally was, where he should have been.

"Bella! Bella, stop! _Wait!_"

But Bella was already driving, loving the feel of the cold, winter air on her face, loving how it whipped her hair back like she was a true rock diva. She even made some guitar strumming sounds under her breath, gradually getting louder until she was screaming, tears rolling down her cheeks, hands flying off the bike and into the air –

"Bella!" Jacob's cries were getting quieter and she loved it.

– Until she was no longer on the bike but rolling, rolling down a little steep hill inside Forks' most dangerous forest, hitting her head on tree stumps and screaming with no more pleasure, but pain.

"J-Jacob!"

She opened her eyes to darkness. What time was it? And how long was she out?

A man stepped in front of her only light, a glowing fountain. From the bonfire. She was supposed to go to that, to support her oldest friend other than Jacob. He'd lost his sister and she was riding a motorbike in the forest in the exact place his sister had been killed.

Well, she wasn't riding anymore. The ditch she was lying in was far better than just going to the bonfire. Of course it was.

Tears stung her eyes again. "Dad? Jacob? Phil?" she asked weakly. "Is that you?"

The man crouched so she could see his face better: he was extremely attractive, with dark, curly hair and red lips. His eyes were absolutely fantastic; she stared at the red pupils with a ghost of a smile on her face. He was smiling, too, showing two rows of white teeth, the kind that dentists hung a picture of in their office to get you to stop drinking soda and stop forgetting to brush.

"Are you going to help me?" she asked, seeing black again. She tried to keep her eyes open, just to see his face. He kind of resembled somebody, but she wasn't sure who.

His lips pulled over his teeth. Slowly, softly, he knelt down until his mouth was close to her neck... In a whisper... "_Isabella_–"

"Bella?!"

Jacob crashed through the trees, and the man was gone.

Jacob had scratches on his arms, a little twig sticking in his thigh. "Oh my God," he breathed. Bella blinked. Was Jacob the man she'd seen? Was he pulling a prank on her? Was the bonfire close? Was her dad there? Phil, her mom, Mike? Rosalie Hale?

"Jake, was that you?" she coughed. Jacob propped her against a tree gently, and she let out a sigh of relief. Her back was killing her – maybe literally.

"What?" he asked, clearly clueless. Then his nose wrinkled. "What is that _smell?_"

"I don't smell anything?" Bella coughed again. Her sides hurt when she did, and she saw blood flow freely out of her nose, onto her favourite AC/DC t-shirt. "H-h-hey," she managed. "I have an excuse for P.E.!"

Jacob smiled, but his eyes were worried. "Bella. What's that smell? Is there... somebody else here? Is there... a man?"

"... H-huh? W-ha-t?" _Yes!_

Jacob paused. Studied Bella. Wrapped his leather jacket around her shivering upper-body. "Never mind," he whispered softly. "I've called you an ambulance. You just close your eyes and rest. It'll all be okay soon."

...

**AN: **And there you have it. So, I'm sorry for two things: a) not including any Emmett and Rosalie (I promise I'm getting there!) and b) not including enough Emmett period. But, can you guess who that stranger at the end was? ;)

Question: what went down with Emmett and Edward in the good old Cullen mansion? Why did it affect Edward so much?

What's with Bella flunking off school besides her laziness and adoration for a certain Mr. Black?

What happened between Edward and Bella – why did he flee so quickly, why did he lean so far? (You probably already know this. It might not be what you're expecting, though.)

And finally, what is that damned smell? Bella, are you really that bad? Or is Jacob smelling something Bella can't?

Until next time...

(I like that little dramatic ending now we just need some music!)

**Soundtrack:**

I Knew You Were Trouble – Taylor Swift (some lyrics go quite well, I'd say!)

Teeth – Lady Gaga (couldn't resist!)


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **So, the bonfire. I feel I should give an honorary mention The Vampire Diaries, as there was a scene (some kind of bonfire/outdoor party) in early season one which was the inspiration for some of this chapter. I guess you could say Bella/Olivia is the Vicki Donavon of this story.

I still do not own Twilight, which is very sad. I also haven't met a cute, vegetarian vampire at school yet, and time is running out. This is also very sad.

...

**Chapter Three**

The bonfire was in full swing when Rosalie arrived. Her flashy red convertible stood out among the lame trucks, cars, mini-vans and such that were also parked in the little makeshift car park on a little square of grass just inside the forest besides the park and bonfire pit.

Rosalie looked out into the car park, but there was no equally snazzy silver Volvo anywhere in her sight.

She met up with her friends at the little drinks' table full with a picture of Olivia, some candles for everybody to light and stacks of plastic cups. A little condolence book for her family was sitting underneath the picture, with some signatures and messages scrawled in.

"Have you seen Edward?" Rosalie asked Tyler as he fixed her a drink.

He handed her a plastic cup half-full with beer and soda. The only way Rosalie could tolerate beer: adding soda. "Not since school," he said, wrapping his arm around Carmen's waist.

She bit the plastic angrily, taking long sips of her drink. She bet Edward had bailed. He couldn't have gotten lost since all he had to do to get there was follow Rosalie's simple instructions, or follow the mass of lanterns in the sky.

"We're going to set a lantern off soon," Kate intoned and handed Rosalie a lighter to light a candle. "We're going to add a little message. That's what everybody else has done."

"Super," Rosalie said.

"No need to be like that, Rose," Garrett said, chasing Kate playfully and poking Rosalie in the stomach as he passed. They would never stop annoying her: the apparent five-year-olds. She wished they were more like Tyler and Carmen.

After a while, somebody tapped her shoulder lightly. Needless to say, she was prepared for war so she was about to turn and give them hell, until it wasn't any of the superficial students that she shared her time with unwillingly, but a dark-haired, attractive man.

"Can I help you?" she sneered. She found she wasn't in the mood for anybody, never mind the people from her school. Unless Edward parachuted down with roses, apologising for standing her up. On second thought, she hated roses.

"I believe you can," the man replied, obviously, symmetrically in a terrible mood. "I'm looking for my brother – short, constant bird nest hair, cartoon eyes," he added dully, moodily at her confusion.

He was looking for Edward. Rosalie knew this instantly, even though the man and Edward looked nothing alike. This man was in his early twenties, obviously, while the latter was only seventeen. And this man's eyes were a dark, dark brown colour with hints of red. Cartoon eyes? He could talk. Who had hints of _red_ in their eyes?

"Well?" the older Cullen prompted.

"Haven't seen him, sorry," she said, sipping her drink.

His dark eyes flashed with something Rosalie couldn't identify. Then, oddly, he smiled. "Rosalie," he said, testing it. Then louder, certain. "Rosalie Hale. Edward's poor girlfriend. Run while you can, while you still have legs."

Rosalie wasn't sure whether to grin or to slap him. Girlfriend? In a way, she was thrilled. Some part of her was excited with the idea that Edward must have told his elder brother about her in confidence though she wasn't sure why he would call her his girlfriend, when they barely knew each other well enough to even be in the short stages of dating.

That last thing he said, the strange warning, irked her in ways she couldn't describe. A chill ran through her body, though she was standing close to the fire. While she still had _legs_? What was Edward, some kind of modern day Jack the Ripper, but instead of taking organs, he took _legs_? What did that even mean?

"I've got to say," Edward's brother carried on, oblivious to her discomfort, "you're much prettier than he let on." He stepped forward, lips curled in a full smile. "You're _much_ prettier than his ex-girlfriend," he added slowly.

Rosalie slapped him, hard. Then she cursed, her hand tingling with cold, harsh pain. Tyler and Garrett were over in a second, though the older Cullen wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"I was just saying," he said innocently. Then he poured himself a beer and disappeared into the fire-lit night.

"Who was _that_?" Tyler stared after him, awestruck.

Rosalie frowned. "I have no idea."

...

Bella was sitting in a hospital bed, uncomfortable at the support surrounding her bedside. She'd barely opened her eyes, and there were people enveloping her, trapping her to her bed so she couldn't move an inch without coming in contact with human flesh other than her own.

Jacob and Charlie stood at the end of her bed, staring. Both of them held their own chorus of concerned "Bella"s while nurses and doctors checked her monitors, her forehead.

"How are you feeling, Bells?" Charlie asked nervously. Jacob nodded, as if that was what he wanted to say, but he couldn't quite get it out.

Bella tried to remember what happened, but only two details stuck in her mind: a two hour long detention and red eyes.

Suddenly the cramped room was making her feel claustrophobic. "Ugh – get out. Get out!" she repeated, louder, when nobody moved. They all turned to stare at her as she pulled on the wires entering her arms, her head. "Get out!" she screeched, ripping the wires out of her body with too much force. "Just go! Get out!"

Jacob and Charlie tackled respectively with her arms, her legs, trying to keep her down. "Bella," Charlie was trying to say, over and over again, but his words just caught in his throat, watching his daughter wrestle against the doctors and nurses who were trying to help her calm down.

"Bella!" Jacob shouted.

Bella's eyes clouded over at the sight of Jacob, and all of a sudden his lovable brown puppy dog eyes flashed a sick, blood-red colour and he was coming at her, coming so close with his teeth bared...

It was the last thing she saw before the needle entered her arm.

She awoke some considerable hours later in a sleepy, drugged, painful daze. Brown-eyed, childlike Jacob was sitting besides her bed, snoring, opposite Charlie, who was stirring in his sleep. Bella sighed and leant back.

Her whole body hurt. She remembered something about somebody mentioning cracked, broken ribs. A few other broken bones. Bruises, cuts all over her body. Stitches on her eyebrow where her rebel image piercing had caught on something and ripped out.

She remembered then what she'd said to Jacob, and a small smile welcomed on her lips.

_At least I have an excuse for P.E. now_, she thought, and closed her eyes mirthfully.

...

The next morning, a cold chill closed Forks in an atmospheric confusion of winter and autumn – even though it was almost spring. The students of Forks High School parked their cars monotonously, and then ran for cover inside the school's heated office. The weird aftermath of the bonfire last night provided a certain excuse for their drowsy, mournful moods.

Rosalie, for one, was snapping at everybody before they had even finished their sentences. She was extra mean – so it was a good thing Bella Swan wasn't in school for her daily roasting. God knows what Rosalie would've dished then.

"Is this all because of Edward?" Tyler asked one time after third period.

"Absolutely not," Rosalie said through her teeth. Tyler didn't try to speak to her for the rest of the day.

For his part, Edward ambled around school lazily, only showing any type of human activity when he spoke to teachers if they picked on him or when he politely declined Tyler Crowley's offer to join the football team.

He spent half of the day looking for Rosalie.

He found her eventually, sitting at the bleachers at lunch, surrounded by her usual group of friends and followers. When she spotted him, she hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder, looking prepared to go. Edward took that as a chance to talk to her.

"Rosalie," he said once he was halfway up the stairs. Rosalie's group were watching Tyler's football team's practise, but half of them had turned to stare at him. "Can I talk to you?"

"You are now, aren't you?" Rosalie responded. She walked down the stairs gracefully – miraculously, Edward thought also, considering the height of her heels and the wet moss that even covered the stairs as well as everywhere else. Edward followed.

"I'm sorry about last night," he said. Then he rubbed his brow, trying to think of how to continue. His eyes were lighter, Rosalie noticed. And his skin was weirdly lighter, too, as if you could go lighter than bone-white. She shook her head.

The more she thought about things like that, the more she got freaked out.

"Its fine," she said, even though it wasn't, not in her mind. To her friends, she was being ridiculous, but they'd never say that outside their little group. Imagining what kind of horrible stories and rumours Rosalie would spread about them made them shudder with deep regret, fright.

"Your brother came, though," she added perkily once inside the gym-section of the school. Edward thought Rosalie hated gym; he thought she was one of those girls, the ones who wrote phony notes two minutes before lesson and use their charm, elegance, beauty to help it play off. And he didn't think she was the type of girl to want to get her hair all knotted, sweaty.

"My... brother?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"You don't have one?" Rosalie spun around, holding her expensive gym bag, only mildly aware of the staring girls behind Edward.

Edward felt uncomfortable, but surprisingly not because he was stood inside the girls' changing rooms. "Yes, I do," he said formally, "but we – I mean, I – don't speak to him. At least, I try not to."

"Oh," Rosalie said, as if she understood everything. When she really didn't.

The coach of the volleyball team jogged inside the changing rooms, eyeing Edward. She told him to leave, and he did, without question.

_Your brother came, though._

Edward gritted his teeth and settled into a run.

...

Carlisle was making dinner calmly when he got home. Esme, sitting on the little stool besides the fire, flicking through a little booklet on home renovation. And Emmett. He stood at the back door, talking quickly into his phone, staring at Edward with dark, emotionless – yet almost accusing – eyes.

"Carlisle... Esme..."

"There's no need to be hasty around your brother, Edward," Esme said, and it was almost a warning, which was odd for Esme. She nodded towards Emmett, but didn't look up. "Why don't you ask him why he came back?"

Edward turned to Emmett, and so did Carlisle. Carlisle already knew. Edward knew that Carlisle and Emmett had had this conversation before. Carlisle just wanted to see Edward's reaction.

"What–?"

"Vampire hunters," Emmett said simply, shutting off his phone. Then he turned to Edward full-on. "Vampire hunters. In town."

"Well... wait, huh? Are they..." Edward gasped. _Vampire hunters_. The two words that had banished them from Rochester, New York two years before. "Are they..." he gulped. "Hunting?"

"The clue is in the name, buddy," Emmett told him. His phone screen cracked with a loud, enthusiastic click. "Looks like we've got a fight on our hands."

...

**AN: **I'm actually not all that happy with this chapter because I was supposed to include a lot of other things: more Emmett and Rosalie, more Edward and Bella, more stories/rumours – (I had a plan where Tyler C was going to tell some kind of ghost story surrounding the town's past which we'll have to do next chapter or the one after because I was looking forward to that) – and a few more just general vampire ideas.

This brings me on to my next point. I think it's kind of obvious now what the Cullens are – but wait a second, wasn't Carlisle just making dinner two seconds ago? So, I've changed things up a little bit. Instead of Stephenie Meyer's idyllic, fairytale vampires, I've kind of made a few little changes. Really, I'm getting inspiration from The Vampire Diaries which I think has a really interesting spin on vampires. But not completely. Some things I just write, then realise what I've done, then make some kind of reasoning out of it – the scars, the eyes, the fact they can eat and so on. They will all be dealt with soon.

Also – agh another long author's note – I'm so sorry for the lack of Emmett/Rosalie. I feel like I'm failing on that point. At least they've met, though, right? I was originally going to have them meet, greet and get along swell at the Cullen's mansion. But then I thought that something had to happen at the bonfire, something interesting. And so a wild Emmett Cullen appeared. I have a chapter-plan thing though which is written for almost the entire planned story so far. Basically, Em and R have some great, key moments coming up but we'll have to wait for the angst to finish up first. Then we'll be riding on the Emmett/Rosalie train! Whoop.

(That was so unbelievably cheesy. Erm. Music!)

**Soundtrack:**

Mr Brightside – The Killers (um. Explanation needed. Okay, so when I was writing the bonfire bit, this song came into my head. And I thought that it fit kinda. So while Emmett and Rosalie were talking – for the most minimal time, I'm sorry – this song was playing. Cute.)

I don't really have any more song choices. So, feel free to request. The official soundtrack thing will be made soon. As soon as I find a suitable, free sight to use. Until then... well, enjoy the extra long author's notes!


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **I was re-reading this story back last night and realised that most characters from the Twilight books are missing (Alice and Jasper are my main concerns). So, a few meet-and-greets this chapter I think.

I also do not own Twilight. But I own something cooler: a box-set of iCarly episodes because I, like Garrett and Kate, am apparently five-years-old.

...

**Chapter Four**

Rosalie and her family sat around the dining room table, barely talking other than to ask somebody to pass them some sort of condiment. That day's newspaper was rested on Mr Hale's lap – he hadn't stopped reading it over and over since four p.m. – and his phone was in the hand that wasn't holding his fork.

His family watched him tiredly.

"There is no evidence to suggest anything other than a simple disappearance," his wife had said after he'd ended the hour long phone call just ten minutes beforehand.

"There is nothing simple about a disappearance. Especially not in Forks," replied Mr Hale, then he'd dialled his phone again and started chatting right up to when dinner was dished out.

"Did you know her?" Rosalie's eleven-year-old brother asked quietly. He had barely touched his food, being more interested in studying his parents with foreign concern in his young eyes.

"No," she whispered back. "She went to that weird La Push School with Jacob Black and his dog-pack. Now eat your dinner."

Their parents were arguing again. Rosalie felt sorry for her brother having to grow up in such a disturbed home – their father was always away in the job that none of them knew anything more about other than it was "work with the council" (as he always said when they queried). And when their mother wasn't stressing about her husband's unknown work, she was working out of town in her criminal law time-snatching job.

Their lives were vicious cycles of missing parents and the aftermath of missing school students.

Rosalie's mom's phone rang, and Mr Hale shushed it with his forefinger while he nattered down his phone. Then Mrs Hale stood, angrily, and announced that she wasn't hungry anymore, that she had to take this call.

Rosalie's fork hit her plate with a loud screeching sound purposely. Mr Hale glared at his only daughter, his eldest child, and then pushed his plate aside on the favour of some secret mission involving just his phone and his top-secret office.

Rosalie smiled smugly but her inner mood didn't match her outer persona. She bit her lip.

She liked it better when her parents were out of town.

...

"Um, excuse me..."

A girl who looked younger than her years with cropped pixie-like brown hair and wide brown eyes tapped Edward on the shoulder a few minutes into history class. Edward didn't recognise her from any of his other classes. Or, come to think of it, any of the history classes he'd attended.

"I just transferred to this class and I" – she tapped the back of her head in an odd manner – "don't have any of the notes. Could I, um, please copy yours?"

Edward tried to show her a friendly smile but she cowered back. Instead, she took the notes out of his hands and began rushing to copy them as though she was trying to set some kind of world record.

Edward could feel Rosalie's eyes blazing at the back of his head and it amused him.

An office attendant with swarthy skin and piercing eyes entered the room. She handed something over to Mr Banner and then turned to Edward. "There's somebody here to collect you, young man," she told him, sounding bored and completely disinterested. "You better leave now; it looks like he's in a hurry."

Edward nodded. Emmett. He had told him he was coming sometime during the day, but he didn't know when. This was apparently it.

He had been thinking about Emmett's revelation all night as he sat deep in the forest after a late night hunt. Vampire hunters, he thought, over and over again until the words felt like they didn't belong in the English language. Hunters, after him. Unbeknownst to them, anyway.

Or did they know about Edward's secret? Well, not just his secret. Carlisle's, Esme's, Emmett's. Their secret too. But how would they? Were suspicions about the town's frequent murders/disappearances really that high?

Carlisle had said it was unlikely they'd believe the animal stories for much longer.

The little pixie girl handed Edward her notes back. She had a look of somewhat discomfort on her face, mixed with all different kinds of emotions way behind her age. She looked about twelve. But her mind, which flashed in those huge eyes, was seemingly full of secrets, accusations.

Edward felt nervous just looking into them.

Emmett was waiting with his Jeep outside in the school parking lot. Edward passed through the office and down the rusty, sandy stairs which felt like they were going to crumble and fall any second now. His scuffed black loafers were covered in a red-coloured mini-rock/sand combination.

"Is everybody who works at that school eighty-years-old?" Emmett wondered out loud when Edward climbed into the passenger seat. He raised his eyebrows. "Seriously, it put me off blood completely. Can't there be anybody younger? It should be against the law to hire anybody around the corner from death. It's so gross."

Edward rolled his eyes, but a high level of fury had risen in his body. "Funny, I thought you went for students," he said acidly, and Emmett gave him a confused glance. "Olivia. The three before that. This new girl from La Push."

Emmett was driving far too fast. If he carried on, he was going to get arrested. And without any flowing, scented blood around him – if he didn't prey on the police guards, that is – chances are he would die.

Edward didn't know how he felt about that.

"La _Push_?" Emmett wrinkled his nose dramatically. "Do you not know me at all, brother? La-freakin'-Push." A few minutes passed, and then he added, "Wait. The three before Olivia? What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?"

"You think I killed those kids?" He raised his eyebrows, not focusing on the road, focusing on Edward's mean, spiteful expression. A hard look settled in his eyes. "I only killed Olivia. And that was because she was stupid enough to go skinny-dipping in the little lake running through the forest. I was hungry, it was my first night in Forks and she was there. Big deal. Does anybody really miss her? They've all forgotten about her at your school by now." The Cullen's mansion was in sight behind large Oaks and moss covered other varieties. "By the way, that's a stupid idea. School? You're too smart for those imbeciles. You'll blow them right out of the water with their low-class spelling bees and football games. Oh, on that note, if you even think about competing in a spelling bee, I will kick your–"

"If you didn't kill them, who the hell did?" Edward yelled. His fist connected with the soft, leather interior of Emmett's Jeep and a little dent formed in the passenger's seat. Before he knew it, he was darting out of the Jeep, screaming profanities under his breath, for once not caring about the outcome of his rage.

"Edward," Esme said, sounding startled, as soon as he'd reached the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, licking cookie-dough off her fingers. A smidge of the stuff had gotten onto Carlisle's work shirt and also his chin. Edward didn't even want to think about what had been going on beforehand.

Emmett was behind him in seconds. "Edward thinks I killed the three before Olivia. The three no-good high-school students who can't keep their too-tanned legs out of the forest despite the many warnings. On my watch, they deserved to die. But I didn't do it."

Edward heard what he was thinking. _Because I have taste... Because Carlisle wanted me to try some animal blood... Because when I got there, they were already dead..._

He never usually pried in people's minds. Every now and then, especially when meeting new people, he'd hear snippets of random thoughts. Sometimes, when he was bored during an exam or when he was driving alone, he would open his mind, just to get a laugh. Then he'd close it.

Over the years, he'd learned to perfect closing his mind from the mindless nattering inside people's minds. When he was alone, when Carlisle and Esme had spent a few years on Isle Esme, Esme's lush, remote island, he'd practised. Now, his mind was just a huge blank space. White, with no words, no pictures, no anything except his own thoughts.

Emmett was staring at him, waiting. Emmett was good at control, too. Even better than Edward. All those years of being alone, sulking in barrier-reefs or jungles or deserts – anywhere to be alone – he had spent perfecting his vampire abilities. And it didn't help that he fed on human blood.

Human blood drinking vampires were stronger than those who decided animals were more-suited to their lifestyles. It was something Emmett bragged about.

"You're a monster," Edward said, laughing. A now clean Carlisle and Esme looked up in surprise. Edward's usual light, boy laughter was replaced with a menacing, semi-evil chuckle. "Nothing but a pathetic, useless monster!"

Emmett took a few minutes to take this in. He shrugged, muttered "okay" and then pounced at Edward, teeth bared, his controlled, brown eyes turning to the darkest, deepest red you could imagine.

Edward flounced backwards. Before he could get a hit, before he could even react rationally, Esme had stepped in-between them, closing the space. Her scent of flowers mixed with cookie dough sent a calm wave over the boys. Then Emmett's eyes were back to brown, and Edward had straightened his t-shirt, his pants and stepped backwards against the wall in defeat.

"We didn't bring you home to argue," Esme scolded. The bowl of cookie dough was back in her hands and Carlisle's back was turned; he was switching on the oven. Neither of them looked in the eyes of Edward or Emmett, inexplicably ashamed without a doubt.

"Then why did you?" Emmett asked, taking a seat at the dining room table, not bothering to apologise.

"We have to talk options, strategies," Carlisle answered.

"Like what?" Edward asked.

"Like," Esme begin, sharing an anxious glance with Carlisle, "what's best for our family."

...

"I still don't get it. How haven't they caught the animal yet?" Garrett asked his friends. He dipped the multiple fries in his hands into a pool of ketchup and stuffed them into his mouth hungrily. "Who's stupid enough that they can't catch a six-foot animal in the smallest town of them all?"

"Who's stupid enough to believe that it's a six-foot animal?" Tyler added absently.

"I believe that Garrett is a six-foot animal," Rosalie supplied, smirking. Garrett stuck out his ketchup covered tongue and she groaned disgustedly.

"What do you mean, Ty?" Carmen asked, no longer interested in the sign up sheet for the spelling bee next month. She glanced at her boyfriend with eyebrows raised curiously, not noticing when Rosalie pulled the sign up sheet from under nose and scrunched it in a tiny ball, throwing it so it bounced off Kate's head.

"Have you guys noticed something different lately? Like, in the atmosphere," he said, pushing away his tray and folding his arms seriously on the table. Everybody except Rosalie watched him with eyes of awe.

"What, that people keep dying?"

"Not quite." Tyler shook his head, ignoring Rosalie's obvious, hateful sarcasm. "Have you noticed how secretly people are acting? Like the council, who locked themselves away in assembly on Monday and stayed there until morning break. What do you think they were talking about?"

Rosalie actually listened to that last part. Had Rosalie noticed people acting secret? Only for the past seventeen years. Her father, who was a member of the council, was in that room that day. And she doubted that they were really coming up with some town-safety plan like she'd originally thought.

"Go on," she prompted after a long silence.

"Well, my grandpa was visiting from Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday. He told me some stories about the town from when he used to live here at our age."

Tyler spun into a detailed account of his grandfather's past. While Rosalie found most of it boring, some things highlighted in her mind: unknown, large creatures were spotted leaping tree-to-tree by a hiker one night, and the next morning his body was found in a lake with blood oozing from different bite marks on his body. Not only that, but the hiker noted that the 'creature' had dark red almond-shaped eyes. And teeth that bared a brilliant white colour against its dark skin, almost like a human trying to hiss.

A loud silence declared ownership over the group. Then Garrett and Carmen burst out laughing, while Tyler smirked. Rosalie wanted to punch him. Had he made all that up, just to get her to listen to one of their ridiculous tales for once? She bet Tyler's grandfather didn't exist. That he was dead, or something.

"I'm serious!" he protested even though he was still smiling. His gaze was locked on Rosalie who glared at him. "You haven't even heard the rest of it!"

Rosalie stood up, picked up her tray and sauntered away from the table. _Assholes_, she thought. Of course Forks wasn't invested in human-sized creatures with almond red eyes and white, hissing teeth. It did, however, hold a bitchy blonde bombshell who could rip people apart with her teeth. Tyler included.

"Wait! Rose!"

Tyler pushed open the cafeteria double doors and followed Rosalie into one of the school's little courtyards. She spun around, her lilac eyes ablaze. "You're a dick, you know that?" she said, laughing, trying to hide the fact she had been affected by that story.

"I'm serious, Rose," Tyler pleaded. He pulled out something from his pocket. "Look, here's the number and address of the guy who told my grandfather. The hiker was this man's best friend. He had told him about this creature and then when he went back, it killed him, like it'd heard everything."

Rosalie glanced at the paper casually. _Harry Clearwater, _it read. Then an address and number was scribbled down underneath it. She scoffed. "I'm not taking that just to talk to some wrinkly ancient dude who's going to feed me a sack of lies." She flipped her pale hair behind her shoulder and turned away from him.

"Fine then, don't believe me." Tyler raised his hands. "But I'm telling the truth. The only reason Carmen, Garrett and I started laughing was because Kate looked like she was about to shit a brick. You know how she'd react if she knew it wasn't just a horror story. She'd lose sleep over this."

Rosalie sniffed. Tyler was right: Kate was scared of her own shadow, never mind human-killing creatures.

"I'll think about it," she said and stuffed the piece of paper towards the bottom of her Chanel bag. The name rang a bell, but she didn't know where she'd heard it before. Maybe she went to tennis camp with his son or dance camp with his daughter. Maybe he was a friend of her fathers – which was a frightening concept.

"'Kay. And Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Carmen about this," he said softly, smiling a little. "She's kind of freaked out still about the Olivia ordeal and she's not really open to any other suggestions about her death."

Rosalie nodded, and Tyler walked back into the school. Rosalie stared after him for a moment. She almost wished Edward were there so she'd have somebody to laugh with about these crazy ideas. Man-eating creatures with human features. It was laughable, t say the least. Was she really going to call up this Harry person to hear the longer version of the story, his own accounts perhaps? It was doubtful.

On second thought, when she thought about the peculiar deaths in detail, it occurred to her that maybe there was some truth behind it all.

Maybe Tyler's grandfather was telling the truth: maybe there was a human-eating creature in the forests of Forks.

...

The moss-covered trees and green air provided an excellent soundproofing area. This deep inside the forest, none of those huge man armies with their bear-hunting guns and walkie-talkies to contact the other officers in different bases could hear anything.

Not even the loudest scream.

He had been watching the two (a presumed couple) play for hours. It was calming, sitting in a tree, listening to girly giggles and manly chortles. If only they knew what was coming next.

The man disappeared for a while inside the forest, and the girl had started to get worried. Her blonde-pigtails tied with ribbon bounced around her head and neck and her dress curled around her knees. She shouted his name, but he didn't reply.

The man jumped from the tree with ease. The young girl – a high school student, by the looks of it – turned, startled, hands held in a defensive way.

The man kept walking.

"Don't worry. I'll make it quick," he whispered. He was getting closer to her neck, holding her wrists to stop her from running. She was screaming now, and he was growing irritated.

What could he do to shut her up?

Oh, yeah.

His mouth formed an unattractive 'O' shape as his teeth neared her neck, her collarbone. She thrashed against his hold as if any of her punches or kicks would hurt him.

He was almost finished when a blinding flashlight glared through a gap in the trees. "Hello? Is anybody there?"

A police officer stepped onto the scene.

...

**AN: **Okay, horrible ending. I know. I know it's not *really* bad in violence terms but it made me so uncomfortable because of reasons. Also, if you know who the girl is, it's worse. Well, there you have it. *coughs uncomfortably*

Any guesses on who the vampire/man (okay, you'll all be pretty certain it's not just an average man by now) is at the end? Clue: it's not Emmett. He wouldn't be that bad. He does have decent bones in his body you know!

(I promise the girl has a happy ending. It made me sad because she's such a lovely/clueless character that I couldn't kill her. *sad face*)

**Soundtrack:**

The Vogues/Bee Gees – There Is Someone Walking Behind You/Turn Around Look at Me (This song gives me the creeps. Final Destination 3 soundtrack, anyone? No? Ugh. Nightmares for weeks – of a song. I know.)

Does anybody have some kind of kick-ass woman/girl-vampire song? Because they're coming. Soon. ;) (I love bad-ass woman literary characters. Yay!)


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **Two characters officially back this chapter: Jacob and Bella. Also Tanya, who I forgot from the little story scene on the last chapter. Oopsies. But, did anybody really miss her? :D

I don't own Twilight nor do I really wish to... Okay, it would be kinda cool...

...

**Chapter Five**

Bella groaned as she sat up in bed. If not from the pain, then from the attention. Nurses and doctors had surrounded her since her little incident the other day. Even a physiatrist, who had blown aside her comments about seeing somebody in the forest as "hallucinations".

The worst pain was Charlie seemed to believe it.

"How are you feeling?" Jacob asked, yawning. He'd been sleeping by Bella's bedside for days, and he was starting to smell like week-old baloney.

"Like I have a few broken ribs and a broken wrist," she said, holding up her right wrist to show off her new funky cast. Apparently it was something the doctors had missed on the first day they examined her so they'd blamed it on Bella's little hissy-fit. Bella had retorted that the beds shouldn't be so hard that when her fists hid the mattress she'd broken a bone.

The doctors and nurses had glared at her.

"Morning, Bells," Charlie said cheerily, walking into the room. He was carrying three Starbucks cups, one for each of them. Bella rolled her eyes. Unless it was black coffee, she wasn't going to drink it. All that fancy cream and chocolate sprinkles made her want to throw up.

"Morning, Dad," she grumbled back. He handed her the drink – a straight black coffee – and she felt a little better about the day.

Charlie had been juggling his work – trying to find this huge creature in the forest and dealing with missing children's cases – and visiting Bella. On some days, Bella wished her father would just stay away so she could actually talk to Jacob who seemed to be the only person who believed her about seeing somebody in the forest that night.

But it was Saturday, and Charlie didn't have work.

"I was thinking about cancelling next weekend's fishing trip with Billy and Harry if you're not home by then," Charlie said in all-seriousness. He sat down on the end of the rough mattress and sighed.

"No, Dad." Bella sat up, feigning wellness. In all honesty, she _wanted_ to go home. Anything was better than being cooped up inside a hospital on a weekend. "I'm fine. You should go. Jake will stay with me, won't you?"

"Sure will, Mr S," Jacob responded.

Charlie glared at him. He hadn't forgiven Jacob for allowing – the little he knew – Bella onto the motorbike in the first place. He didn't know that Bella had pushed Jacob off and drove it away from him too-fast and with no hands. And she wasn't about to tell him.

"Dr Cullen" – the words felt sour in her mouth – "will be here anyway," Bella said. Even though Dr Cullen had an annoying, self-obsessed, freak of a son who had embarrassed her on his first day, she kind of liked his dad. Though she had avoided him since the accident; she was afraid Edward had gone home and laughed about her to his parents.

"And the rest of them," Jacob added, rolling his eyes, sharing Bella's hate towards the staff at Forks' General hospital.

"Nah. I'll be fine staying here watching the game," he said. "That is, if you want to. We can put on... America's Next Top Model if you want." He scratched his chin roughly, nervously.

"Dad!" Bella snorted at the same time as Jacob cackled, leaning back in his armchair and clutching his sides he was laughing so hard.

"What?" Charlie's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"That show makes me want to barf," she said, mimicking a being-sick pose. "Who do you think I am? Rosalie Hale?"

"_Huh?_"

The curtain pulled back and Rosalie Hale's delicate, tanned face appeared in a shadow of the hospital's fluorescent lights. She was wearing a typical obnoxious designer outfit and her Blackberry was in her right hand. Didn't she know she was in a hospital?

"Rosalie, what a surprise." Charlie stood up politely while Bella and Jacob stared. What the hell was she doing there? And by Bella's room?

"I heard my name," she said. She glanced at Bella and Jacob and her face clouded. "God... what happened to you? You look, well, _awful_."

Bella rolled her eyes. She always did according to Rosalie. What difference did black-and-blue bleeding skin and a few casts do? "I was in an accident," she replied acidly.

"Are you alright?" Rosalie asked. Bella was surprised at how concerned Rosalie sounded, when it was clear she was laughing like the witch she was in her mind.

"I'm fine. Are you? Or are you here for a check-up for your upcoming boob job?" she replied. Jacob caught her eyes and grinned.

"Bella!" Charlie warned. Of course he would think Rosalie Hale was the sweetest, most angelic teenager in Forks. He was close friends with her parents as narcissistic as they were. Her whole family was a bunch of self-absorbed, Hollywood-glamorous, designer-wearing cruel individuals.

"Its fine, Charlie," Rosalie said, giggling. Then she turned to Bella. "I'm visiting a friend. Actually, one of my best friends." She looked over at Charlie again. "You'll probably know about this. My friend Kate was the girl you found on Thursday night in the forest."

Charlie's face fell. Bella glared at him suspiciously. She didn't know anything about her father finding somebody in the forest. But that was probably on the night he was on patrol, the night were the physiatrist had questioned Bella's motives and accused her of being an adrenaline junkie.

The curtain pulled back, and Bella gasped.

Kate. It was Kate – the lovely girl of Rosalie's group who always carried around a Tiffany diary and wore her hair in either pigtails or a high-pony with a different colour ribbon every day. Her mother and father had grown up with Bella's mother Renée and Charlie and had been high-school sweethearts. They were as lovely, as bright as Kate with the same fair hair and gorgeous blue/green eyes.

Rosalie shot Bella a harsh glare as Charlie walked to Kate's bedside, muttering soft words to her parents, writing something down in his clipboard. Kate's only obvious injury was a bleeding, bandaged cut on her neck but she was obviously in shock. Maybe Bella would pass over her physiatrist to Kate: somebody who really needed the help.

"Still feeling sorry for yourself?" Rosalie asked. "Everybody in school knows about your little 'accident', Bella. Couldn't you stop the attention-seeking for just one day? God, and to think people have been attacked, _killed_ in that forest. Yet you were selfish enough to go and almost kill yourself by riding some stupid bike down a hill."

Though she must have wanted to appear certain, her words were shaky. So she did know about Bella's accident, though not the whole truth.

"I wasn't riding down a hill–" Bella started.

Charlie was talking loudly now into a walkie-talkie. He gave the shaken-up Kate a reassuring smile then he joined some other officers outside of that ward. Kate's parents squeezed her hands, wiped away their tears and announced they were getting coffee, but not before thanking – unbelievably – Rosalie for being so kind as to look after Kate.

Bella rolled her eyes and decided not to even bother.

"C-could I have some water please?" Kate asked quietly.

Rosalie looked sympathetic as she poured out a glass then placed it into Kate's hands, even helping her drink it. Bella and Jacob stayed quiet. There was something off about Rosalie. She was acting... kind, for a start. To Kate, anyway. But there was something else... Something bothering them...

Footsteps sounded suddenly as Edward Cullen walked into the small ward in a fast pace, glancing around at the different beds, even peering behind a curtain (an old man who Bella knew had some form of lung cancer yelled a profanity at him hilariously). He then spotted Kate's bed and his eyes widened.

"What the hell is _he_ doing here?" It was Jacob who seemed distressed. Bella shrugged; deep down, a part of her wondered too. She tried to turn her head so he wouldn't see her but it wouldn't have mattered: he had joined Rosalie and Rosalie's other friends at Kate's bedside.

"He's with Kate?" Bella whispered. Jacob's fists were clenched which didn't go unnoticed by Rosalie.

"Calm down, idiot." She rolled her eyes. "He's here for Kate, just like you're here for Bella." She side-eyed Bella. "Just because he hasn't known us as long as you've known each other doesn't mean he can't feel something to. He's our friend."

Then the curtain whipped closed.

Bella's eyes filled up with unexpected tears. Suddenly, she felt nostalgic, thinking about the past. She couldn't help but notice how Rosalie said "how long _you've_ known each other" without mentioning herself. Had she forgotten how close they used to be, like Bella had tried many times? Or had she simply just failed to mention it because it would upset her, too?

_Yeah, righ_t, Jacob would say if Bella said any of this out loud. _Rosalie is a robot who is incapable of feelings. _

Bella smiled against-odds. Jacob stared at her with a puzzled, humorous expression on his face. He seemed a lot better now that he couldn't see Edward Cullen anymore.

Bella rolled over and tried to go to sleep. But it was restless. She hadn't gotten the red eyes out of her mind or the conversation with Rosalie. Nor could she forget Edward Cullen's reaction to her on her first day. He must have been getting on swell in biology without her there. She bet Rosalie had even moved into the seat, like she knew she wanted to. Whatever. She'd let her have it.

She had Jacob, her best friend in the world. She didn't need anybody else – especially not Rosalie Hale.

A few hours later and Charlie reappeared. He said that he was sorry for leaving, but he had to go back to work, which explained why he was wearing his police uniform again. Bella always thought he looked funny wearing it because his moustache looked like one you'd buy at a joke store and he looked like a ten-year-old boy in it. In fact, Bella remembered when Rosalie had forced Jacob to wear a police uniform at the fancy dress store in Phoenix when Mrs Hale had taken them out for ice-creams when they were kids, and Jacob looked exactly like Charlie. Mrs Hale had snapped a photo of the three of them, with ice-cream around their mouths, grinning like they didn't have a care in the world, and sent one over fax to Charlie.

Back when animals didn't attack people in the forests and everybody was friends.

Charlie spoke to Kate again, whose parents were back. Edward and Rosalie hadn't left. Jacob was uncomfortable. Bella rolled her eyes, preparing herself for whatever comment Rosalie was going to make about Jacob and his clenched-fists – which, come to think of it, Bella didn't even know what was about. Instead, Rosalie peered around the half-shut curtain with a solemn, almost nervous expression on her face.

"Could I talk to you, Jacob?" she asked.

"Me?" He pointed to his chest. "Um, sure."

Bella watched as they walked over to the middle of the ward. Rosalie spoke with her hands, occasionally looking back at Kate, who was sound asleep. Bella hated herself for not being able to hear what they were talking about. What did it have to do with Kate? And why didn't Rosalie want to speak to her?

Edward stood besides his father as check-ups were done – for the hundredth time – on Bella. A strange atmosphere settled between them. It felt like they had known each other for a thousand years yet this were only their second meeting. Bella tried to make sense of the situation, but all she could focus on was Dr Cullen talking about her ribs.

"You'll only need to stay for a maximum of three days," he explained. Bella nodded, but all she was concentrating on was Edward's lost-boy expression which seemed almost pained. She wanted to demand what his problem was. But soon afterwards, he was gone. Rosalie had caught his jacket sleeve and pulled him away with her after shouting a promise to visit Kate every day until she was allowed back out.

"But you'll have to stay in bed and keep yourself well-rested."

Dr Cullen kept talking while Bella glared at the curtain separating her and Kate's bed, where Edward had just gone through. He didn't even _look_ at her! She paused. Maybe she was being irrational. She known him for how many days? And yet she was fretting over him...

She shook her head and managed a smile. "Thank you, Dr Cullen. Do you know when I'll be allowed back at school?"

"Ooh, at least another two weeks," he said, chuckling. Bella frowned. Her injuries were that bad? She would be in a wheelchair if she had to be. Then again, she didn't really want to go back to school. She just wanted to see daylight and be somewhere where no meddling in people's business was done – although Rosalie Hale would be a problem in that department, having to know every single thing about everybody.

"Thanks," she muttered. Charlie was snoozing, and Jacob had returned from his chat with Rosalie minutes before looking flustered. What, had she inviting him to prom or something? Was he transferring to the dark side? No, thank you. Bella wasn't about to sit around and watch that happen.

"Hey. What do you say we break out of here?" Bella pretended to pull out some of her wires for fun.

"You're crazy," Jacob said, just as quietly, just as casually. A smirk was on his face though.

Bella smiled. That was allure that had pulled Jacob to her in the first place.

...

Rosalie had never been inside a house as big as the Cullen mansion. Even her own home, which was mansion-sized, wasn't as big. But on second thought, Rosalie's had been built by a top New York designer while Edward's was an old-style house which was undoubtedly used to hold dozens of horses or something. Whatever the old people in Forks used to do, she didn't really care. All she knew was that they had terrible sense of style and spread folklore tales presumably to scare their children that had escalated into a scare-fest of the twenty-first century.

"Anything interest you?" Edward asked, walking into his grand living room holding two glasses of soda. The place had bookshelves on every wall except a large wall which was purely just glass sliding doors which entered into one acre of the many surrounding the house. Rosalie was staring at one of the bookshelves, smiling.

"I never knew you read," she said, pulling out an old dusty classic. _The Picture of Dorian Gray_, the title read on the grey front cover.

"I didn't know you did either," he answered, studying her face. No, he wouldn't peg Rosalie as the type of girl to read. Not that he really liked to categorise people in the first place. But Rosalie just had a certain attitude about her that made him believe she wasn't into things like reading.

"No, I read. Just not in public," she said, squinting at the first page. "It's so old." She blew off a sheet of dust and Edward smiled. At first, he'd felt awkward letting her into his home, even though they were only planning the upcoming science project. Rosalie wanted to win the prestigious golden onion, claiming that she only wanted it so Tanya didn't get it. But Edward was seeing her in a different light: she really wanted the onion.

"What?" she said at his laughing.

"Nothing," he said, his laugh forming a gentle smile on his face. "You're different than I expected. You read and you like science." He wasn't really meant to be saying any of that out loud but he couldn't take it back then.

"What, that's _wrong_?" Rosalie asked, sounding offended. Edward's eyes popped open. He was about to protest when the large, brown door creaked open, and Emmett ambled in.

"Hello, brother. Brother's girlfriend," he greeted, waving his hand once.

Edward didn't know whether to slap his own face or his brother's. Rosalie, on the other hand, looked amused.

She slapped Edward's arm with the book. "I'm just playing with you. And I've read this one." She was completely ignoring Emmett, Edward noticed. Then he remembered how he never really asked his brother why he had gone to the bonfire. But Rosalie seemed to be pretty affected by it.

"What about this?" Emmett walked over, set down his glass of Bourbon, and patted an old family photo album. Rosalie glanced at it, uncertain. She didn't know what that was. When she went to pull it out, Edward slapped at the bookshelf by her hand, bits of dust flying into her face.

"Ew!" she complained. "It's in my hair!"

Emmett smirked. "Why don't you tell her what it is, Edward?"

"It's just some stupid album," Edward responded, handing Rosalie his jacket to wipe away the dust. She pulled a face at it, but used it anyway. He glared at Emmett. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"I have nowhere to be on Sundays, my brother," Emmett told him, plopping himself down on the couch with a loud sigh. He picked up his glass of Bourbon. "Want some, Juliet?"

"Rosalie," Edward sneered.

Emmett rolled his eyes. "I know that, Romeo."

"Um, I'm good." Rosalie wiped her dress and blazer with Edward's jacket then threw it onto Emmett's chest carelessly. Edward would have smiled if Rosalie then hadn't picked up her bag and cleared her throat. "I think I'll have to get going. Goodbye, Edward." She glared at Emmett. "Goodbye..."

"Emmett," he said, holding out his hand. Rosalie shook it warily, and then pulled back.

"I'll see you tomorrow at–"

A ringtone went off and Rosalie peered into her bag. Her phone, however, sat on the table besides the couch. Emmett shrugged himself up from his lazy, lying down position and picked it up.

Rosalie reached for it and sighed. "My dad," she said, then pressed the call button. "I'm on my way." She waved at Emmett and Edward, then hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder and disappeared out into the hallway.

Edward grabbed his jacket off Emmett's chest. Then he glanced at his older brother sorrowfully. "Can't you find your own friend without messing with mine?"

He snorted, "like that would ever happen," and then followed Rosalie's suit.

...

**AN: **This chapter was originally supposed to be way different but I changed it last minute. For instance, the hospital scene wasn't supposed to be that long. And Edward wasn't supposed to be there in the last scene, and Emmett and Rosalie were supposed to have a proper conversation. But, that didn't happen. *sighs* There's always next time...

Alas, you know the girl who was hurt last chapter but not yet the vampire. Don't worry. It's (/they're) coming. Soon. We just have to get the messy love-triangle-plus-one (rectangle?) out of the way first. I.E. Emmett/Rosalie/Edward/Bella.

(Yes I know right now it seems more Edward/Rosalie but shh. It's coming. Emmett and Rosalie moments are SO close I can smell them.)

I don't have any songs for this chapter. :( You can just hum a little pretty tune to yourself if you wish (because I know these soundtracks are SO important... *sarcasm*).

Thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **Ah, so remember when Tanya was supposed be in the last chapter? Oh well. Again, does anybody actually care? This chapter is either going to be really long or really short. Hmm. I haven't decided yet. When you reach the bottom, you will also reach my decision. Well then. If it's going to be long, I can't leave you with a long author's note, can I?

(Shh. I know I always do.)

I don't own Twilight! Simples!

...

**Chapter Six**

"I'm thinking of organising a party," Rosalie said the following Friday after school. She was sitting at Kate's bedside, writing down in a new journal. "Would you be up for it? We could say it's in your honour just to get my parents out of the house." Rosalie would even go as far as organising some sort of spa week for her mother so she wouldn't be around. All her parents did lately was argue.

Actually, a party in Kate's honour could be a good thing – like the bonfire which was supposed to be for Olivia except celebrating the fact Kate was alive.

"Are you sure?" Kate said, sitting up in bed. She was feeling better then – her parents had said it was because of her countless prayers though Kate knew it was because Edward Cullen's equally hot father was a genius. Seriously, it was like he'd been a doctor for a thousand years.

"Yeah," Rosalie replied, doodling something in the corner of her page nonchalantly. Lately, she'd been feeling out of her own head.

For instance, the little scrap piece of paper with Harry Clearwater's details on it burned from the bottom of her bag. She felt nervous every time her fingers grazed over it whenever she reached into her bag for something. What exactly would she say to him if she phoned him?

Somehow, she didn't think "my father is a pathological liar and I want to know what he's hiding" would cut it.

"Can Garrett come?" Kate sounded perkier already.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "You do know how old he is right? That's so creepy on so many levels." She shuddered, but jotted his name down anyway. "Of course he can. It's your party. And anyway, he's my friend, too. Even though he needs to cut his hair and get regular showers."

Kate smiled. Rosalie had been extra nice to her all week and she loved it. She especially loved how Tanya wasn't getting all the attention for once.

They spent about an hour planning Kate's perfect party, though Rosalie toned it down a little bit. Kate wanted balloons, but Rosalie settled with just one welcoming banner – ("because balloons are for five-year-olds"). Kate wanted different varieties of soda, so of course Rosalie added vodka, gin, whiskey onto the list. But she did add a few bottles of Cola and Cherryade just to satisfy Kate's inner child.

Secretly, she just didn't want Kate to get too drunk that she'd go wondering inside the forest again.

"When will I get to see Garrett?" Kate suddenly asked. She picked imaginary cotton off of her hospital gown. She had a sad look on her face.

"He won't be grounded on Sunday," Rosalie said, patting her friends hand gently. Garrett had been refused access to the hospital to see Kate – by his own strict parents – as he was the one who had essentially gotten Kate hurt in the first place. They had been playing one of their stupid, childish games when Garrett got lost and Kate got attacked.

Rosalie had been thinking about that a lot lately as well. Kate said she couldn't remember _anything_, just that she heard Garrett's screams after it'd happened, just after she'd blacked out. When Rosalie found out, strange images of huge, brown beasts – with almond-shaped red eyes and a human hiss – flooded her mind. Since then, she hadn't left Kate's bedside much. She desperately wanted Kate to remember it again.

One of the prettier nurses addressed Rosalie with a tight smile. "Visiting time was over ten minutes ago," she said.

Rosalie considered reminding her that her father was the sole person who funded half of the hospital including the paediatrics ward and with just a few words, she could stop him. Then she decided against it. Kate wasn't going to suddenly have a huge burst of memory flow back and remember seeing whatever it was that attacked her. And she was truly getting bored of hospitals by then anyway.

"I should be let out soon, Rose." Kate picked up her chocolate milkshake and grinned – her teeth had bits of cherry laces stuck in them. Rosalie fought the urge to roll her eyes. She also had to resist punching the pretty nurse in the face for not bothering to hide a disgusted/far too-amused laugh. "Soon, Dr C said!"

Rosalie's parents were arguing when she got home. Her mother's voice was loud and clear – luckily they didn't have close neighbours due to all their acres of land – whereas her father's remained in that calm and steady tone that always annoyed the person you were arguing with.

"I'm having a party tomorrow night okay?" Rosalie announced. She pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge and pulled out a bunch of grapes. Her parents were ignoring her. "Thanks. Love you!"

She knew it was short notice but she could probably convince them to leave the next morning. And the liquor store in Forks had been invested in by Rosalie's father years back and Rosalie had convinced the owner to give her bottles of alcohol whenever she wanted otherwise she'd tell her father and he'd stop-short the investment. Which probably wasn't true. He'd probably yell at Rosalie – in that steady annoying voice – and tell her she shouldn't blackmail people.

Not like he was so innocent.

But her family was the type that you could drink as long as you didn't get really drunk and embarrass yourself. Or run into the forest. Or pee in public or something like that. The rules applied to Rosalie when she turned fifteen but her eleven-year-old brother Henry still had to drink soda at family parties.

As if by cue, Henry waddled out of the bathroom in his superhero pyjamas and stopped in front of Rosalie's room. He had a mix of his parent's features – soft blue eyes from his mother and blonde-almost-brown hair from his father. Rosalie had the same eyes but her mother's hair. The only thing she'd inherited from her father was his personality.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" Henry asked. He was like a shorter version of Kate: he acted way too young for his age. But Rosalie had always had a soft spot for her brother when he wore those particular pyjamas and cried. She could never say no to somebody like that.

"You're staying on the couch," she warned, then walked up the second flight of stairs.

Rosalie had her own floor in the mansion. Her parents had obviously felt guilty for ignoring her for half her life so when they moved back from their one year stay in New York City, they'd let her do anything she wanted. Of course, for a twelve year old who was suddenly obsessed with Chanel and America's Next Top Model and so on, she wanted the biggest, best room.

"What's that for?" Henry asked and popped his head out of the room attached to Rosalie's main bedroom. She was sitting on the little stage by the balcony, scribbling onto a stand-up whiteboard.

"A party," she announced proudly.

She had written down all the guests, including a few who she didn't particularly want to invite. Kate had sent her a text message with a bunch of names, and Rosalie had reluctantly added them to the list. Jacob, Bella Swan and a girl named Alice who she didn't know and was probably in Kate's grade stuck out to her the most.

"Can I come?" Henry asked, sitting down on Rosalie's king-sized bed.

"No. You're just a baby," she said, wrinkling her nose. Then she remembered a fight two nights ago: Rosalie's mother had called Henry "just a baby" and told him to leave her alone after a fight with her father and Henry had cried himself to sleep.

"On second thought..." She turned, smiling. He grinned, sniffing away his sorrows. "But I'm going to order you a pizza and you can stay in your room – or mine – for a few hours. I'll even get you any drink you want and you can invite a friend."

She should have known he was going to say Seth. He was a La Push boy through-and-through. When Rosalie had fallen out with Jacob and Bella, Henry had stayed friends with everybody in La Push. They even video-chatted while the Hale family were in New York. Rosalie had wanted to erase her Forks' life completely – not knowing she'd be right back after a year – and had ignored them for months until they got the picture.

La Push was like Brooklyn and Forks was Manhattan. Or Forks was New York and La Push was New Jersey. At whatever cost, there was an unwritten rift between the two places. Everybody in La Push liked tattoos and drinking beers cold from the can while people in Forks – okay, mainly the richer families such as the Hales or the Denalis – liked to believe they were the glamorous small-town beauties whose children would go on to move to great cities and become great people.

Rosalie smiled to herself as she wrote down the food list and Henry played with one of her old stuffed-toys from when she was an infant. She still kept in touch with all the models and socialites from New York. And it wasn't just her mother who believed she was going to be a great woman living in the City with tons of money. Those friends even _still_ invited her to fashion weeks and their Upper East Side penthouse parties.

A door slammed downstairs and Rosalie jumped. She peered out of her balcony window nervously to see her mother with bags in her hand stomping down the driveway. She climbed into her car and sped away furiously.

Rosalie told Henry to stay there while she padded quietly down the stairs. Her father was sitting in the kitchen, reading glasses on, writing something in a little black book.

"Daddy?" she asked, her voice breaking. While she may have loved to wind her parents up and try to get things from them, she didn't want to see them like that. She especially didn't want it for Henry.

"Go back to bed, Rosalie," her father said, closing the little black book. He wasn't drunk, but she could smell the whiskey on his breath. She wondered what it was they were arguing about – Rosalie's mom always leaving for these great cities with her great job while her husband stayed to look after the kids perhaps. She knew her father preferred Forks to any of those other places they'd travelled too.

"It's only eleven," she said, sitting down opposite him. He had all sorts of papers in front of him and she squinted at them, trying to make them make some sort of sense. He spotted her and covered them up.

He sighed then, taking off his glasses. He had tired wrinkles at the edge of his eyes and stressed ones forming on his forehead. "How much do you want for this party of yours?" he said, smiling a little. She hadn't seen him smile since _before_ New York City, come to think of it.

If he loved Forks so much, why didn't he smile more?

"I don't mind," she said, shrugging. He pulled out a couple of fifties and placed them in her palm.

"Look after Henry for the weekend, okay? I've got a bit of work to do."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Rosalie gasped. Her mother _and_ her father? She supposed she should bring up the fact her mother just left – for goodness knows how long – but she was afraid to cause a rift between them.

"I'll be back soon," he said, standing and kissing her head. She wasn't sure how much she believed him. Maybe that was why her parents were arguing – her dad just kept leaving. Even her mother had been staying home a lot lately, turning down a few huge job opportunities. Maybe tonight she just cracked.

On a lighter note, at least she wouldn't have to force her parents to leave the house for her party.

...

Knocking on the front door sounded as Edward glanced at the text again. He hadn't been hunting in three days, being more preoccupied with talking with his parents about the hunters – what did it mean to them, to the family? Carlisle had assured him that they should just stay on the low, that nothing bad could come to them without them actually doing bad themselves.

But with Emmett around it was a struggle to believe Carlisle even in his most sincere moments.

"Eleazar?" Esme sounded excited.

Edward looked up. _Eleazar_ was there?

Eleazar was the closest Carlisle had to a real friend ignoring Sasha, an old witch who Carlisle had befriended sometime during the 1800s. He was a Spanish man with olive-skin and kind, bright eyes. He was wise, too. Surely he would know what to do about the growing crisis in Forks: the hunters and the fact that somewhere, somehow there was another vampire other than the Cullens who was feeding on these students. And that it had to stop – soon.

Even though Emmett was a liar – and a big one at that – even he couldn't lie so expertly as to even Carlisle believing that it wasn't him.

Then again, it had been years. And Emmett _was_ the best at control.

Eleazar and a pleased-looking Carlisle entered the living room. Emmett and Esme trailed behind them, looks of confusion and joy on their faces respectively.

Eleazar greeted Edward with a friendly smile. Out of all the vampires he had met, Eleazar was Edward's favourite by far.

"I trust you know why I'm here," he said, picking up Emmett's bottle of Bourbon. Emmett glared at him. His golden eyes twinkled as he sniffed the drink, and then placed it down on the table, ignoring it.

"Actually, I don't," Edward said regretfully.

"Yeah. So why are you here?" Emmett spoke up gruffly, snatching his bottle away from the table.

Eleazar was considering his words carefully. He didn't answer for a few minutes, leaving Carlisle to fill in the blanks – how he'd been in touch with Eleazar for weeks and how it'd been Eleazar's suggestion to visit. Eleazar nodded along, confirming what Carlisle was saying.

Then, when Carlisle quietened, he sighed. "You were correct in your thinking, Edward. Carlisle told me about what you suggested to him. There is another vampire clan in town."

...

Rosalie had spent all of Saturday morning setting up her house for the party – locking every room upstairs except her own for Henry and a few guest rooms; placing out little red plastic cups and bottles of soda, alcohol on the large dining room table; adding bowls of snacks on the table; setting up the surround-sound stereo-system and connecting the large playlist she'd made.

Her mother had taken a road trip somewhere – something to do with her job – and her father had promised he was working late in the office so she didn't have to worry about them coming back any time soon. Smiling at the progress she made, she picked up her phone to check the time. 7:45.

In an hour, the party would almost be starting.

She weighed up the options of what she could do in her head. Go to visit Kate? She'd done that already. Kate was home and had asked Rosalie for her opinion on the outfit she had. Rosalie, for once, was pleasantly surprised with Kate's choice. Though Tanya may have already helped her on that front.

She could take Henry out in her car for ice-creams or soda or something. But he'd probably want to go the park which would presumably take more than an hour and cut into her getting ready time. She'd already done her hair and make-up – twice – and had left 15 minutes to get into her outfit.

The piece of paper at the bottom of her bag burned in the back of her mind. Should she call up Harry Clearwater to talk to him properly? She didn't know, first of all, whether or not it would take up too much time and she'd not have the guts to get out of there. And she also didn't know if he would even want to speak to her. Had Tyler told her about him?

She pulled out her phone tentatively. Then the piece of paper with the details, and dialled Harry's number anxiously.

"Hello?" a tired-sounding man with a deep, booming voice that sounded almost croaky asked. There were quiet separate conversations going on in the background.

Rosalie hung up immediately. Her palms felt clammy just thinking about it. Okay, so he was only going to find out the rest of the story Tyler had told and that wasn't so bad. But she felt like she was defying her father by calling up this man just to hear the secrets he had been keeping from her. And was it worth it just to know what the council wasn't telling the rest of the town?

"Henry!" she decided suddenly. He bounded down the stairs, his mouth hanging open, his headphones in. _What? _his look said. "Come on. I'm taking you to pick up your friend."

"Cool!" he said. "Wait. Can we go the store and pick up some sweets first?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Just get in the car. People will start arriving soon."

About ten minutes later after a journey of Henry desperately trying to tell Rosalie the directions without making her want to pull her hair out, they arrived at a small, secluded house just inside La Push. Rosalie could remember the last time she'd been in La Push. It was when she was ten years old, and herself, Jacob and Bella had gone down to the beach for a field day before summer vacation started. That was the time when Rosalie's family had started vacationing out of Forks, so they wouldn't be seeing each other during the holidays.

Rosalie sniffed as she walked out of her car and followed a running Henry in a much slower pace towards the front door. She glanced at the property with narrowed eyes. It was way too small. And it had mould seeping from the top of the door which was gross in it itself. If that didn't make Rosalie want to run for the hills – the Hollywood Hills, in her case – then the little chickens from a coop just at the side of the house did.

The name-tag besides the door caught her eye and she gasped. _THE CLEARWATERS, _it read in block-letters.

The front door opened to a short girl with long, shiny black hair and dark blood-red lipstick. She gazed miserably, uninterestedly at Henry and Rosalie, as if it was taking all her patience and time to just open the front door. Rosalie scrunched her little nose up at that. Everybody in La Push just needed to take a chill-pill.

"Um, are you here for my dad, Seth or the others?" she asked, twirling some chewing gum around her fingers. Henry grinned at her as if she was something worth grinning at, and then told her that he was there to see Seth. "Oh." The door creaked open another foot, and Henry ran in shouting Seth's name.

"You?" The girl turned and pointed at Rosalie. Rosalie shook her head.

"I'm here with him," she told her. Then... "On second thought. Is your dad, um, Harry Clearwater?"

"The one and only," the girl replied. "Dad!" Before Rosalie could stop her, she shouted again. "There's someone here for you – wait, what's your name?"

"It's Rosalie, the girl I was telling you about," a manly voice replied from inside the house.

Rosalie widened her eyes. It was the man from the phone – _Harry_. And he knew her name? The girl at the door stepped aside to let Rosalie come in, and the floor creaked as Rosalie's heels touched the rotted wood.

The living room was joined to the kitchen, which didn't make a difference size-wise. The living room was still tiny, and Rosalie still had to duck to get her head in. She was surprised to see not just the gruff, middle-aged man Tyler had told her about, but a bunch of other men and a few other women – including, and Rosalie was most shocked at this, Jacob Black and Bella Swan.

A man with a strange tattoo on his arm and short-cropped hair was making pancakes in the small kitchen, and a girl with a scratch down the right-side of her face was propped up on the counter. Both had turned to stare at her. As well as the man in the kitchen, a few others with the tattoo were lounged in the living room on separate, ancient-looking couches. She recognised Jacob – minus the tattoo and short hair – and Embry, somebody who Jacob had brought along with him one beach-trip as kids. He looked different in this environment.

"Um, hi," Rosalie said, feeling awkward and unprepared. What was she going to say, and in front of all those people? Bella was staring at her while she chewed on a packet of strawberry laces – Rosalie bet Kate had given those to Bella in her time at the hospital. Jacob was the only person who didn't look mildly shocked.

Seth and Henry appeared seconds later – wielding plastic swords and pretending to be warriors. "Rose, can we bring these home?" Henry called. The girl from the front door rolled her eyes, and Rosalie almost hissed at her. Fair enough, her brother was acting like he was eight-years-old. But Seth – presumably the girl's brother – was about fifteen. So, she couldn't talk.

"So you're the one having a party?" Harry Clearwater asked, and Rosalie turned away from her brother and Seth, who had gone out to play on the front with Rosalie's consent to bring them to the party.

"That's me. Actually, I have to get going soon. I didn't mean to bother you," she said. She didn't know what to do next – curtsey? Salute? She almost would've laughed.

"Figured," Harry said, and then he stood up. His ash-grey hair was just as shaggy as Jacob's and his build was similar to that of Charlie Swan's. Bulky, like he once lifted serious weights, but more like a baby polar bear than one of those wild things they found in the forest.

He shook Rosalie's hand and, while doing so, placed a small little envelope in her palm. She glanced down at it warily, but he just folded her fingers around it so she was grasping it and then sat back down.

She stood awkwardly for a minute until Seth and Henry appeared at the window, pulling faces. She laughed. The place wasn't as bad as she'd expected – it didn't smell, for a start – and with a makeover it could probably look like a cute Hawaiian shack on the beach.

She started for the door then paused. While writing up the guest list and then proceeding to text everybody invites, she had forgotten Bella. That and she didn't have her number to text her any details. With her hand on the door handle, she spun around.

"Actually, Bella." Bella looked up at her name being called, as did half of the group. She started to recognise more by that point – Paul being the most obvious. She had put worms in his shorts in third grade, and he had gotten so mad that he looked like a hissing, snarling wolf which never failed to make Rosalie laugh. Now she just felt disgusted.

"What?" Bella asked warily.

"Kate wanted to invite you to my party tonight," Rosalie said lightly. "Um, you can come, if you want?" she offered. "You don't have to dress up. And you can bring a friend." Her eyes were on the girl from the door and the girl in the kitchen with the odd scratch. They were a bit weird, but Kate wanted Bella there and Bella probably would say no without bringing a friend. "You, too, Jacob." She knew he was going to bring Embry and Paul, and at least they were familiar – even if she didn't like them.

Bella just nodded, and then Rosalie left, not wanting to be around them for much longer. One thought occupied her mind: If she had never moved to New York and had never been introduced to the real world and stayed in the small-town bubble without any breaks, would she have been sitting in that living room with a bunch of burly, child-like men and miserable, pierced, tattooed girls?

She shuddered at the thought.

...

Edward was already running late to Rosalie's party as it was, so he didn't need any more distractions. But Carlisle had insisted he had something to show him.

The old family book – a mix between a photo album and a journal – had been passed by in vampire generations. Carlisle had somehow got his hand on it during the 1900s, and it'd been in their family ever since. You had to write down something new, something you'd discovered about vampirism (in Edward's case it was his power to read minds) and it was almost a learning-curve for new vampires – "newborns" as they were dubbed.

Edward had learnt that an old vampire called Aro had the same power that he did – only much stronger since he drank human blood – and before he'd become one of the head-members of the Volturi, a law-enforcing powerful vampire clan in Italy, he had written in the book about his newborn stages of vampire-life.

Edward hadn't been near the book since Emmett had mentioned it with Rosalie the other day, but it'd burned in his mind ever since. He didn't know whether or not to tell Carlisle what he knew.

"This isn't the first time this has happened," Carlisle was saying, and Edward tried to clear his head so he could listen. "See, here: 1944. Quil Ateara sr. was enjoying a hike in the forest in Forks when a clan of vampires who had been watching Quil and his friends for over an hour had pounced on him and attacked. But not before he had time – a whole night, in fact – to go and tell the town about it. He arrived back the next day to hunt them, and that's when he was killed."

Edward nodded, processing the information. "So you're saying they're back?" he asked. "Those vampires?"

Carlisle shook his head. "We don't know exactly," he explained. "But whoever carried out the attack wrote it in this book. The names have been smudged off. I've been trying to make sense of them for hours."

Emmett appeared wearing a grey t-shirt under a red-checked shirt. He had been invited to Rosalie's party, too, much to Edward's dismay. Eleazar was with him, wearing no doubt some of Emmett's clothes, looking way to high-school to be a twenty, almost thirty-something-year-old man.

"So do we burn the book or what?" Emmett supplied. "I still don't understand it. It didn't do anything for me when I was a newborn."

_That's because you ran, _Edward wanted to say. Instead, he said, "It helped me. A lot. And these stories are important to us." Then Edward ducked his head. "Actually, I think I have something. On one of my first days here, I had tried to read about it, tried to make sense of it. But I couldn't get anything. I even went online, but there was nothing."

"About what?" Esme queried.

Edward swallowed. "There's a girl. Her name is Bella Swan and she is the daughter of the Chief of police here. I think you guys are friends with him. And... Well, I didn't want to snoop, I really didn't. But there was something about her that was off... I peeked into her mind but I couldn't see anything. Not even the white I would see of something who doesn't think. She had... nothing, no thoughts, no memories. I could only see blank."

Esme pulled her lips back into a foreign frown. "Was there any possibility she was one of us?"

He shook his head. "None. There's no chance. She was definitely human, but she was controlling me almost. Like she had some sort of–"

Carlisle had flicked to a page in the book. "Shield. The shield is commonly found in newborn vampires who drink human blood which can later turn into something huge, something great. But with practise. If the skill is not practised on, then it'll just fizzle into nothing."

The family – plus Eleazar – looked at each other uncertainly. Then Edward's cell-phone rang with the picture of Rosalie he'd taken on the weekend at Port Angeles, and he cursed under his breath.

...

Rosalie came back up to check on Henry and Seth around an hour into the party, scared that some sort of animal would pounce through her window and eat them alive. The thing that made her most scared was the picture Harry had given her.

It was locked away in her draw, but all she wanted to do was look at it, examine it again. But the image stayed in her mind anyway, though she'd only looked at it once.

It was the image of one of these beasts Tyler had explained: the human-like creatures with almond-shaped eyes the same shade as blood. Except it was _human_, not an animal. It was a detailed painting of one of these unexplainable beings with blood dripping from its mouth. Some words in Arabic that Rosalie had already tried to look up without luck were scribbled at the bottom, and people wearing ugly gowns were gazing up at it in horror, amazement. A stake was drove through its heart, and its body had already begun some sort of transformation into a grey statue like state.

She didn't know what any of it meant. But that didn't mean it didn't scare her.

Henry and Seth were eating pizza on Rosalie's bed, drawing cartoon animals and watching some sort of late-night horror movies with the stupid blonde lead who always dies because she trips over an apple core or something equally ridiculous. Rosalie wished they'd watch something like SpongeBob instead of a gory classic, but it didn't look likely.

"Just checking up on you," Rosalie said as Henry moaned in disgust at her for appearing again. He had tomato sauce around his mouth and she warned him that if he got any on her bedspread she was going to move his bed to the forest while he was sleeping. Of course he had heard about the blood-lustful beasts killing students, so it scared both Seth and Henry to be careful about their eating.

She spun around and walked out of the room to see Emmett Cullen, glancing down at her with eyebrows raised, lips curled in a semi-smile, semi-smirk. She pushed her hands against his chest.

"Damnit! Don't creep up on people like that!" she gasped, heart pounding. Blood had rushed to her face and turned it crimson.

He just laughed and followed her down the stairs, his walk almost mocking her confident stance. She rolled her eyes. But at least one Cullen had turned up.

On that note, she turned to face him after taking a red cup from somebody's hand on the way down. "Where's your brother?" she wondered, having to shout over the loud music.

He shrugged, taking his own cup from somebody's hands also. "How am I supposed to know? I try to avoid him at all costs."

"He's your brother." Rosalie had to steady herself against the wall to stop herself from falling over. It was two hours in, and she was already half-drunk. Kate was dancing on the table to her right, and Garrett looked nervous she was going to fall and break her neck any second. She was still wearing the awful bandage on her neck.

"So? When do you ever willingly hang out with your brother?"

Rosalie thought about that. These past few days, she'd been extra-kind to Henry because he didn't seem to be dealing well with her parent's constantly arguing. But usually she rolled her eyes at him and tried to burn his things – like the ugly bandana he had adopted from ripping one of his checked shirts a few years ago.

Emmett stared at her with a smug expression. She knew he was right, and he knew that too. How was it that suddenly strangers knew her better than she knew herself? In the corner of the large living room, Tanya was dancing on a curtain pole in her short-short dress. A few other girls from school were following her lead, and boys stared at them gratefully.

It disgusted her that they were so openly acting slutty just for boys to notice them.

A tall-haired guy with olive-skin was the only boy – well, he was more a man – in the room besides Tyler, Emmett, Eric Yorkie and Garrett who wasn't watching them. He was staring at his cup as if the drink inside fascinated him. She didn't know who he was, but she respected him.

"Ugh," Rosalie finally decided. She picked up a bottle of soda and poured some into her almost-empty cup. She didn't know what had come of her but suddenly she felt like she should be the responsible adult for once. Still, she was up for having a little fun. She leant closer to Emmett's ear after he re-filled his cup with something brown that one of the guests had brought. "Will you dance with me?"

...

Bella sat on the porch swing in the back garden, overlooking a beautiful garden full of all different coloured flowers and varieties of fruit trees/plants. She wasn't alone. Leah Clearwater and Emily Young sat with her, also staring at the garden, avoiding most of the partygoers with cups of lemonade in their hands.

Rosalie's family owned a lot of land in Forks. It wasn't a surprise that their garden was big enough so you couldn't see the end, and that their house was big enough that you'd probably get lost on one floor. Ever since they'd fallen out, Bella hadn't seen Rosalie's house other than the one party in ninth grade that Rosalie's mom had apparently made her invite Bella too. Bella had stayed ten minutes, got a drink thrown at her then left.

Jacob was somewhere in the party, too, just like he had been back then. She wasn't really speaking to him much since the hospital incident when he spoke to Rosalie and then proceeded not to tell her why. Bella wondered if she dyed her hair blonde and lost ten pounds, could she become friends with Rosalie like Jacob seemed to be on the road to being?

She laughed out loud then. As if she would stoop that low just to be popular; she wasn't like Jacob. He had started hanging around with Sam Uley at first as a joke but then started turn into one of them just like Paul and Embry had. Muscled chest – Jacob was getting there – and cutting his hair regularly instead of keeping the traditions of silly little competitions of who could grow their hair longer in the shortest amount of time.

Emily and Leah didn't look at her funny when she started laughing. They were more preoccupied in talking about Valentines Day, which was next month.

Bella excused herself as they started talking love. Leah had only started re-talking to her cousin Emily the week before, and they'd been inseparable ever since. Funny, Bella never understood why they'd fallen out in the first place – until she'd seen Sam kiss Emily on the lips in front of everybody at that evening's gathering at the Clearwater's.

She walked through the house, getting bumped into a few times by enthusiastic dancers. The only other bathroom she could think of that wasn't occupied – just before she'd seen two couples kissing their way into the downstairs toilet – was upstairs. Even though she felt snoopy and weird going up, she was going to burst if she didn't.

She walked up the stairs, admiring the paintings on the wall. At least the Hale family still had taste. One framed picture that surprised her was a photo of her and Rosalie with their respective families at one of the Black families' barbeques the summer before Rosalie had started vacationing away from Forks. It was sitting on the landing table besides a photo of Henry, Rosalie's rock-and-roll loving younger brother, and Rosalie on the other side.

She cupped her hands around the edges of the frame and stared at the photo. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and that was when she neatly placed the photo back and stormed away towards the bathroom.

How dare Rosalie keep that photo especially since they hadn't been talking to each other for almost five years! And how dare Rosalie invite her to this stupid party. Had she staged somebody to throw a drink at her like the last time? She knew that wasn't really Rosalie's fault – a girl who Bella didn't know was dancing wildly and accidently threw her hand into the air so hard it had spilt her drink all over Bella. But still. It was at Rosalie's party.

The thumping sound of a new Jay-Z song floated up the stairs and into the bathroom. She stayed in there for longer than necessary, sitting on the windowsill. Would it be disrespectful to smoke considering it wasn't her house? Probably. But what did she care? After she had that one cigarette, she would leave. Not without showing Jacob the finger and perhaps, if she was lucky, getting her own back on Rosalie and tipping a drink over her to humiliate her like Bella had been.

Somebody knocked on the door a few minutes later and Bella didn't answer. She had a mouth full of smoke – she hadn't been smoking long enough for it to be comfortable – and didn't want whoever was out there to hear her deathly coughing and walk in on her smoking. They'd probably tell Rosalie, and then she might get thrown out on her ass. She wanted to leave gracefully, after all, not on her ass.

The door opened and she gasped a profanity. Then she jumped off the window sill and coughed awkwardly. Hadn't she locked the door?

Rosalie walked in wearing her fitted jeans and tight black shirt. She was carrying a red plastic cup in one hand. When she saw Bella, she stepped back, mouth hanging open.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't realise it was occupied."

The cigarette burnt down to almost nothing in Bella's fingers. She gaped at Rosalie, ready for whatever witty comment Rosalie was going to make. But all her old friend did was sigh.

"Never mind. Sorry to bother you," she said and stepped out after throwing her red cup into a little bin besides the sink.

Bella wiped the corners of her eyes. God, she wished she could speak to Jacob. Was he starting to miss Rosalie more and more every day to the point where he almost cried at old photos of them? Rosalie had once been as close as family – to _both_ of them. But then Rosalie had transformed into a massive bitch. So why was Bella suddenly getting these feelings?

Then again, Jacob was lying to her about something. Whatever had happened between him and Rosalie in the hospital, he was being cagey about it. And she didn't like it. She felt like she was back in that biology room with Edward Cullen, getting picked on by half of her class and wishing she was anywhere else.

...

Rosalie looked around for Emmett everywhere. She was ready for another dance, and he wasn't a bad dancer at all. In fact, she'd quite liked dancing with him for three songs. And she liked talking to him. He was intelligent and older and not a slime – even though he did make sarcastic comments after a lot of things she said. And he _did_ share a concerned glance with the respectful man who was staring into his cup at the beginning at the party and had starting watching the television in the less-crowded of the downstairs rooms, the kitchen.

She wondered what that was about. What was there to be concerned about? Did he know something? Was the man from the council – was he spying on her on orders from her father?

She laughed at herself mentally. How much had she drunk? Though the idea wasn't ridiculous – her father probably would want somebody to spy on his little girl to make sure she was not doing anything illegal – she doubted Emmett would act like that. Maybe Edward, but not his cool older brother and his equally casual, equally handsome friend.

Something surprised her from the corner of her eyes. It was none other than Edward, talking heatedly with somebody her back-porch. People had started jumping in Rosalie's pool nakedly, the party having moved somewhat outside. Sensible people stayed inside, and so did she, watching Edward and ... _Jacob_?

She wanted to know more about that.

Jacob and Edward both looked like they smelt something terrible. When she moved a little to the right, she could see them perfectly. Jacob was talking with his hands, and Edward kept furrowing his eyebrows at everything Jacob said. She glared at them, then a streaker ran past the window, singing to the Kesha song and jumped into the pool.

She rolled her eyes and turned around. If Edward wanted to turn up late – to another thing she invited him to – then she would just ignore him. Simple. But something about their heated conversation made Rosalie want to intervene. She decided against it almost immediately.

She was working alone – alone, and with the picture Harry Clearwater had given her. If everybody in town wanted to act secretive, so would she.

That is, until she found out what they were all being secretive about.

...

**AN: **So, long. I'm not completely happy with this mainly because of the lengthy paragraphs and lack of something... Interesting? Hmm. I don't know. I was going to include more Harry/Rosalie and also Emmett/Eleazar/Rosalie but then it somehow ended up like this. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!

**Soundtrack:**

Secret – The Pierces


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: **Meeting a few characters in this chapter. :D I'm excited for this because it also brings a whole new arc to the characters that are already here. And I like who I'm introducing! I hope you do too.

I don't own Twilight or the characters I'm writing about. Hashtag sad face.

...

**Chapter Seven**

Rosalie sat bored in her car while Tanya was inside the free clinic of Forks' General hospital getting some kind of pill/test results back. Rosalie hadn't bothered to ask. It was Tanya's business, and she didn't really feel in the snooping mood that morning. Though a part of her was curious as to what it was.

It was probably just some feminine issue that Tanya didn't feel comfortable mentioning.

Rosalie checked her phone while waiting. Edward hadn't called or text her in the past twenty-four hours since the party and she was finding it hard to believe he would any time soon. And now she wasn't sure how she felt about him. Was it so hard to turn up on time somewhere for him – or at all? This was the second unofficial date he'd missed, and she wasn't sure what his problem was.

After he'd been speaking to Jacob rather heatedly, Edward had glanced around the room and then left without a word to anybody. When Rosalie caught up with Emmett, he didn't know what his problem was either but like herself he was dying to find out.

"How am I supposed to know? I already told you that I try to avoid him at all costs," he had said, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion, irritation. His friend Eleazar had been listening in but when Rosalie glanced at him, he ducked behind a corner quickly like he didn't want to be seen.

Rosalie had crossed her arms. Then Emmett mentioned that it wouldn't be hard to find out since Edward had a journal and a terrible thought floated in Rosalie's mind. She wouldn't go as far as stealing a journal just to find out what was going on with her old best friend and her new sort-of/halfway love interest would she?

Was he a love interest? Did he like her back? Well, as much as she had liked him in the beginning. She just wasn't sure anymore.

Emmett and she had laughed about it though. The idea of stealing his little brother's journal to him didn't seem like a huge pact on his part though to Rosalie it seemed a little too out there.

Tanya appeared a few minutes later with a smile on her face. Rosalie revved the engine and frowned at her through the window. _Hurry up, _she mouthed. Tanya rolled her eyes and ran the last few feet towards the car and climbed in. Another excited smile graced her face.

"What's up with you?" Rosalie asked as she pulled out of the hospital parking lot. Tanya shrugged.

"It's none of your business," she replied coolly.

Rosalie's eyes blazed with annoyance. Couldn't Tanya just share something for once? Then again, she had been acting off with Rosalie ever since Rosalie's shopping trip with Edward, Tyler and Carmen in Port Angeles the weekend beforehand. Tanya was probably pissed that she wasn't invited, and that Rosalie had been with Edward.

Well, who cares? As far as Rosalie was concerned, Tanya could have Edward – not that he'd want her if she was honest. How could he just move on so quickly from Rosalie? She was planning to ignore him that week at school, and then he'd get the picture and his heart would sink. She'd parade around school as usual, best friends in tow – probably minus Tanya – and show him what he was missing. Then he could go out with Tanya and do whatever he liked.

"Here okay?" Rosalie purposely pulled in at the edge of Tanya's street even though it had started raining and it really was no major task to just pull in by her house. It was actually easier for both of them that way. But with her pride in tact, she turned and smiled at Tanya icily.

Tanya narrowed her eyes at Rosalie, but then something seemed to click in her mind and she smiled back, just as acidly, and headed towards her house after slamming Rosalie's car door behind her with too much force. Rosalie frowned. Whatever Tanya was playing, she didn't like it one bit.

Everything was a game to the two of them – an unspoken competition every week or so that their friends always saw coming and tried to steer clear of them when it happened. But they always made up. Now, Rosalie wasn't sure if she wanted to. She and Tanya had become friends after Rosalie ditched Jacob and Bella when she was twelve because Tanya was the second-coolest girl in their year besides Rosalie. Rosalie was already friends with the rest of them – Tyler had once been a part of the La Push gang – so technically it was their task to take Tanya on just to please Rosalie. Now Rosalie wanted out of the friendship if that was how Tanya would act.

She drove home slowly, biting her lip to consider going to visit Emmett at his house. On second thought, Edward was probably home. And with that, hadn't Emmett had a girl with him the last time she had seen him? So that was a no.

Then her phone buzzed from inside her bag and she dug inside it to pull it out. _One new message_, the screen read.

_Come to the hospital. It's an emergency. – Mom _

She sucked in her breath and threw down her phone. Emergency? With who? She didn't even know her mom was in town let alone prone to emergencies. Her mother was one of the smartest people she knew, and she wouldn't wander into the forest knowing that some huge human/beast/monster was going to attack her with its teeth. Then again, if she'd been attacked, how could she text her? Maybe it was her father?

The hospital neared in sight. Rosalie tried not to speed, even though Charlie Swan probably wouldn't charge her with it seeing as he still considered her a very good friend of the family. When she pulled into a parking spot, she didn't bother to use the ticket/pay machine since she had the other one still taped to her window. Then she ran inside.

Her mother and father were standing at a bedside in the paediatrics ward talking in strained voices to a doctor who she didn't recognise. Then she saw her brother in the bed with a large grin on her face.

"What's going on?" she called out across the hall even though she hadn't reached the bed yet. A few concerned patients looked up, a few even smiled at her having recognised her from her childhood probably. Everybody in town knew the Hales.

Seth was also at the bedside, grinning too. She almost slapped the grin of her face then decided against it considering he was two years younger and his sister was a scary person to be dealing with if she found out about it. Henry looked up, startled, and then looked at his father to explain.

"Henry got into a little fire accident," Mr Hale said, tearing his gaze away from his wife with much force. She was glaring at him still even while he addressed Rosalie. She didn't seem to care much that her son was in the hospital bed. She looked desperate to leave.

"A fire accident?" Rosalie echoed. "What does that even mean?"

"He was playing with the..." Mrs Hale searched for her words as she became suddenly re-aware of Seth's presence. "The La Push kids and there's a new game where you have to jump over fire. Apparently Henry's not good at jumping." She patted her blonde bob as if it were no big deal.

The words spun around in Rosalie's mind. At least it wasn't some wild animal attacking him. But a fire accident? She spotted his burned, red legs then which were currently being bandaged. He had a few bruises like he'd fallen, and a few more burns on his arms. Seth didn't have any.

Then she saw something that really hit her: somebody had drawn one of those tattoos that Paul and the lot had on his arm. Mrs Hale seemed to notice too but she didn't mention it. Rosalie wasn't like that – she was furious! And she knew exactly who to blame.

"Mom, I have to go," she said. It wasn't like any of them cared where she was or what she did. Did they even care about Henry? Mrs Hale was obliged to show up to sign necessary papers, and Mr Hale looked bored out of his mind. They both looked like they needed, wanted to be somewhere else.

Mrs Hale looked up from her BlackBerry slowly. "Rosalie. I think its best you stay," she said, but Rosalie was already storming away on her heels, afraid that if she stayed she might grab Seth by the scruff of his neck and drag him all the way back to his shabby home in La Push.

How dare they influence her brother like that! And how dare her brother just do it. Who even jumped over fire without having a death wish? And what kind of responsible adults let their kids jump over fire? Or their brothers? It was all kinds of ridiculous that she didn't feel like touching on.

As she walked through the hospital, she noticed Bella sitting on one of the plush chairs outside a doctor's office. The look on her face said she had been crying, and she glared miserably at the wall. Then she noticed that the doctor's office was actually that of a physiatrist.

Another girl sat opposite her with chocolate brown cropped hair and a pretty heart-shaped face. She recognised her as sophomore Alice Brandon, the girl who Kate had invited to Rosalie's party the day before. Everybody in town knew that Alice's parents had abandoned her as a child and that Eric Yorkie's parents had adopted her sometime afterwards with one condition: she goes to therapy every Sunday to "heal her mind".

Rosalie walked out without saying anything. She was too annoyed and anxious and pissed off to stop. Besides, Bella had been disgustingly smoking her bathroom the day before. It took her ages to get the smell out.

She reached her car and got in with one destination in mind: Harry Clearwater's home.

She didn't knock when she reached it. The door was ajar anyway, and she heard the laughter of Jacob Black's dog-pack inside. So she walked in, forgetting her manners. A tight smile formed on her face and her eyes squinted at the unsightly scene in front of her.

The eldest guy with the tattoo was sitting on the couch, holding hands with the girl with the scratch. Seth's sister was on the floor writing in a school book. Harry was nowhere to be seen. Embry, Paul and two other boys were playing with a rugby ball and laughing deeply about something. And Jacob Black was sitting cross-legged on one of the ancient couches, flicking through the channels on television.

"Can we help you?" Seth's sister asked obnoxiously. Her bitten nails were painted an ugly red colour and her lips were chapped and bled-out without the red lipstick on that she had been wearing yesterday. Her eyes drooped tiredly, but somehow she still resembled an always-awake coffee addict.

"Actually, yes," Rosalie responded sweetly. She kicked Jacob's knee with her heel and his feet flew off the couch quickly. He pulled a sour face. "I was wondering which one of you was responsible for my brother being burned up _half of his body_." Her teeth had gritted unwillingly, and she had to clench her fists to stop from beating all of them to a pulp.

Jacob visibly swallowed. Rosalie stared at him, but he wasn't admitting anything. The others had quietened, and even the television didn't seem to make as much noise as if waiting for something to be said.

Then the guy with the tattoo – the main guy – spoke. "It was me," he said sadly. Then he stood, kissing the girl's hand as he did so. "I'm Sam."

"I don't care who you are!" Rosalie spat furiously.

Sam Uley. Now she remembered him. Once, in tenth grade, Tanya had announced she was going to try it with him at a beach party that weekend. What happened instead was Sam got into a huge fight with Tyler about Carmen, and Tyler had defended Carmen's honour by punching Sam in the face. God knows what impossibly sweet Carmen had done to offend Sam or his weird girlfriend. Rosalie couldn't even begin to guess.

She started to wish she'd brought Tyler with her now. At least he could help if she got into some serious trouble. Then again, she could probably defend herself. She'd taken kick-boxing glasses throughout tenth and eleventh grade. She knew how to kick _and _punch if needs be. She was sick of having to rely on her friends to get her out of these situations.

Even before then she'd beaten Jacob up plenty of times during 'play' fights as children. But Jacob wasn't the type to ever hit a girl no matter what happened. So if he decided to defend Sam Uley, she would kick his ass too.

But Sam didn't seem in the mood to fight or argue. He sighed. "It wasn't our fault. Emily" – here he pointed to the girl he had been sitting beside – "and I admit that we are responsible for their safety but when we tried to steer him away, he just did it anyway. Like he wanted to prove something to us. That he could be a part of... this."

"A part of what?" Rosalie stepped back and took in the scene in front of her. Miserable, tattooed, pierced girls – she already knew that. Happy-go-lucky, shaggy-haired, muscled boys – she knew that too. What was there to be a part of? Some kind of cult? Was that the reasoning for the strange tattoos?

"Our group," Embry said. His voice had deepened and his eyes had grown almost upwards as the years had passed. He looked like an older Seth/Henry, and Rosalie almost felt sorry for him. He didn't seem like the type of person to be inflicted with groups, or gangs, or cults. Whatever the cause, he just wanted peace and love.

At least, he usually did. Until her brother fell into a fire.

"So you were doing it too?" she asked. The boys nodded, and Emily rolled her eyes. Rosalie tried to hold her gaze but she had glanced back down again.

Paul lifted one shoulder lightly. "Is he okay?" he asked sincerely.

Rosalie frowned. She hadn't asked that when she was at the hospital. But he didn't look too harmed and he _was_ grinning, like a mad-man, in fact. "I suppose so," she said, softening. She wasn't quite sure about her intentions anymore.

Then Paul suddenly grinned mischievously. "Good. Cause we're planning the same for tomorrow."

Rosalie cursed at him and threw a cushion at his chest.

...

It was late Sunday evening, and Edward and his family sat sour-faced around the mahogany table to which they usually ate their dinner or held their frequent family meetings. Now, it was the latter, but including Eleazar as one of their own.

"How did you know about the vampire clan in town if you're not a part of it?" Emmett asked Eleazar after an uncomfortable few minutes of silence. Edward rolled his eyes.

"I found out about them through the deaths," he said, in his sophisticated half-Spanish, half-English accent. He stared pointedly at Emmett. "And I try to refrain from drinking human blood at all costs."

"What? Are you into bunny rabbits too?" Emmett frowned. The thought of eating a fluffy animal, getting fur stuck between his teeth was somewhat unimaginable.

"Actually, they're too little," Eleazar responded matter-of-factly with an amused smile on his face. Edward smiled at the older man; he wasn't confused about Eleazar being in town as much as he had been the day before. He knew now that he was trying to help his family to have the most comfortable experience living in Forks without being found out.

He was grateful, of course. But then he wasn't. Couldn't he just live in peace for at least a year – not just a mere almost-month – without mentioning the unfortunate state he was forced to live in? Couldn't he just act human for once without having to fight with other members of his kind?

He would love to see the day.

A car engine made the rumbling sound it does before it turned off and then switched off completely. Edward looked up, surprised. Somebody was visiting them, and Carlisle and Esme seemed to know nothing of the sort.

"Did you invite your new friend over?" Esme asked.

Edward pulled a face but shook his head. Rosalie was his "new friend". His new friend who had trusted him and he had let her down again. He had tried to visit her that morning, but a younger version of her had answered the door carrying a cereal bowl and wearing a head-bandana. He had said that Rosalie was sleeping.

"Oh, _God_," Emmett intoned, groaning. He was looking at the living room hallway, where the rest of them had just averted their gaze. Edward sat up straighter; he didn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"_Irina_?" he choked out.

Irina stepped into the large living room with a trace of a smile on her face. She was Irina, but she wasn't: her hair had reached her waist and her eyes had changed from a lovely golden colour to a ghastly red. But her skin was still the same brilliant pale colour it had been even when she was a human.

Stepping under a lamp which created a halo over her head, she paused before smiling widely. "Ah. So the rumours are true: there _are_ more vampires in town."

...

**AN: **Dun, dun, dun... So, shorter chapter this time. I was planning a little bit more of Irina in the later part of this chapter but decided against it. You'll have to wait to see what role she'll play. Is she the vampire responsible for the deaths?! Hm. You'll have to wait and see. *grins evilly*

Also, I hit over 400 views yesterday. :D Hello, whoever you are, you creepers, you! I don't really mind so much about reviews. As long as people are reading and I'm enjoying ~sometimes~ what I'm writing, then alls okay. I do love hearing from you though!

I can't think of a suitable song. But, on that note, I have found a website where I can put this soundtrack so I won't have to tell you the songs anymore! I shall post the link sometime between the next few chapters or so.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: **Aaaaaaaand the proper introduction of Irina. I know in the Twilight Saga she wasn't hugely important (and neither was Eleazar) until the later books, of course. This story is based upon the first book/movie though I am taking little bits from the other books. (See: Bella's motorbike crash in New Moon and her dramatised version in one of the earlier chapters.)

On that note, Bella's crash, which broke a few of her bones including her ribs, wasn't so long ago. Realistically, she would still be in hospital. I'm just going to say that she's resting (Rosalie's party doesn't count if Dr C didn't know) and getting regular check-ups. And even though it may not be mentioned, she is still wearing a bandage on her ribs (fair enough they can't see that) and a cast on her wrist. But everybody knows about the "accident" so they're not questioning it.

Alas, on to the chapter! I don't own Twilight, but you lovely baskets of sunshine knew that already.

...

**Chapter Eight**

"What are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you, too." Irina entered the room slowly, admiring the change in decorations in the Cullen's mansion. She stopped at a familiar old painting: an ancient vampire getting tortured by town locals. Oddly enough, she remembered that well. The vampire was a friend of her mothers and he had been caught feeding in broad daylight. The picture was somewhat of a warning, but it confused her as to why the Cullens – an anti-human-blood family – had it hung up.

Maybe to remind them just how bad drinking human blood was?

Irina glanced over at the family, ignoring Edward's question. What was even his problem? "This place looks so different," she said, running her fingers across the length of a shelf on the cabinet besides the large photo.

"It has been a few years," Carlisle answered softly.

Edward stood up, fists clenched. Emmett watched him with an amused expression; Edward was always getting over-heated when another vampire was in town except maybe regarding Eleazar and his unexpected arrival.

"I said what are you doing here?" he demanded.

"You know, this is why I've always preferred Emmett," Irina told him, again disregarding his question like she hadn't heard it. She picked up a framed photograph of the family – minus Emmett – on one of their little "camping" trips a few years back. Then, she glanced over at Emmett.

He raised his eyebrows. "Shame I can't stand you," he said, rolling his eyes. Then he stood up, too. "I think my brother's trying to ask you a question."

Edward would have been grateful, if it hadn't have been for the little wink Emmett shot Irina. Emmett always was like that; he flirted with the vampire girls just to get what he wanted. And that was it – Edward knew very well that Emmett wanted to know just as well why Irina was in town. And he knew that he wouldn't stop until he gotten an answer even if it meant recreating the drama in the picture that Esme hung up, the one Edward was always confused about why they had it.

"Truthfully?" Irina breathed.

"Truthfully," they all replied, Emmett and Edward's tone a little darker than the others. They shared a concerned, apprehensive glare, and then both turned away as if the other's face repulsed them.

"I heard that there were more attacks. And I heard that Eleazar was in town," she said, gesturing towards him. Then she spoke directly to the Cullens. "I wanted to see if I could help. I know that you probably don't need it but..." She hesitated. "I think I might know who is responsible."

"What? Who?" Edward pressed.

"I don't believe they're actually hiding out in town but..."

"But what?" Esme urged.

"Spit it out, Blondie," Emmett said dully, taking a swig of his Bourbon. Eleazar hid a grimace.

"There was news of more attacks in Port Angeles. And I doubt that whoever responsible there is different from those responsible here," she told them. Then she snatched the bottle from Emmett and gulped down a few mouthfuls. "I was involved in a chase last weekend and I believe they were heading to Forks. But whoever they are, they're concealing their identity from us as much as possible. Their army is growing, and I didn't want to be alone fighting them so..."

"So you scoped us out in hopes we would fight your vamp-battle for you?" Emmett answered. He took back his bottle, and turned to his family. "You do realise that even if we do find them" – he glanced at Irina – "and if Blondie is telling the truth, then we'll need a lot more people to help us fight them? And for what cost? We're not the killing machines. How about we just lead them to the vampire hunters and call it a day?"

Edward considered this as the reality sunk in. "That's actually not a bad idea," he eventually decided, and Emmett mimicked his shocked tone in a higher octave. Rolling his eyes, he continued. "We could go out to Port Angeles this weekend?" he offered. "All of us. Just get a glimpse of what we're dealing with, see how we can handle the situation."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Emmett repeated, rolling his eyes. He turned on Irina. "Did you bring anymore of those blood bags with you, Blondie? I'm hungry."

Irina grimaced. "Call me that one more time and you're ass is getting whooped, Caveman," she warned.

Emmett smirked as Irina led him towards her bag.

...

"What's up with Tanya?" Carmen asked curiously. It was lunchtime on Monday, and she was sitting outside with her friends, soaking up the unseasonable sun whilst it lasted. Her top was rolled up mid-stomach and her head lay on Tyler's bare chest.

Rosalie didn't bother to look up from the Vogue magazine she was invested in. Her dark glasses concealed her bothered, flustered look from her friends, and she bit her lip to stop herself from snapping. Who cared about boring Tanya? "I have no idea," she answered tightly.

Carmen hummed, but other than that, didn't respond. One of the cooler math teachers entered the courtyard to see a quick semi-frenzy of girls trying to roll their tops back down and boys pulling on their shirts, but then the panic settled when they realised who it was. Girls and boys alike slathered on sunscreen and dug around in their bags for their sunglasses to protect their eyes. Birds chirped happily in the trees.

Rosalie pondered Tanya's whole issue for a few minutes in her head. She hadn't seen her since yesterday since she had some sort of flu thing. Kate was at the nurse's office, receiving some medication. They'd both been acting weird; super secretive, mysterious, breezy. Rosalie swore she felt herself slipping away from them, and she didn't like it one bit. Though she may have distanced herself from them, it wasn't okay when they did it.

"Rose," Tyler intoned. He was pointing just above her, past her car which she was sitting on the bonnet of. She turned, but groaned internally when she did.

Edward Cullen, in all his glory, stood watching her with unforgivably gorgeous, sorrowful eyes. How could she ignore him when he looked like that? In his hand, he held something golden, round... the golden onion! Rosalie smirked. Of _course_ their group project had won.

"Thank you," she said, taking it promptly out of his hands and placing it in her bag, though he wasn't offering it. He smiled, like that was what he'd expected her to do. But he didn't expect her to slip her glasses over her eyes again and continue flicking through the fashion magazine she was reading.

Tyler and Carmen snickered as his eyebrows arched. Then a bell rang from inside and Rosalie glanced at her gold watch. "I have a tutoring session now with some freshman," she said to Tyler and Carmen, completely ignoring Edward. He watched her leave through the glass doors, and turned to her friends for help.

"Just follow her and hope for the best," Garrett told him, smiling. Edward rolled his eyes and followed her into the school. His third week and he didn't know the place well enough to find anywhere. Where would one hold a tutoring session? But she hadn't gone far; he spotted her at her locker down the hall, almost like she was expecting him to follow.

"I don't know what you want me to say," he said as he approached her with his hands in his pockets. "Sorry?" he tried. "Sorry doesn't cut how I've treated you. I'm... I shouldn't have ditched you at the bonfire or at your party."

Rosalie winced. "You didn't _ditch_ me," she said harshly. "I had a great time without you. My life doesn't resolve around some silly fool who can't turn up on time is his life depended on it."

It was Edward's turn to wince. He went to open his mouth to speak again, but Rosalie cut him off. "Friday night. You're taking me to that new steak house in the town centre. You can pick me up at seven. Got it?"

Edward stared blankly at her. "Friday is, um, not a good time." Friday was the night he was travelling to Port Angeles with his family as well as Eleazar and Irina, who had explained in detail the extent of these vampires: fires spread all across Port Angeles in a bid to cover their tracks, the buildings they encountered, the dead bodies of lives they had drained. And he couldn't miss it if he wanted to find and end the vampire clan's reign on Forks, and he wanted to do that and more. He wanted to live in peace without a fight, a battle every few years. He wanted to forget about his miserable vampire life – he also didn't want to be reminded of his "power" or "duties" anymore. Though he had promised Esme he would use his, quote,_ power_ to help locate the clan.

Rosalie was staring just as hard, just as dead-set. "When _is_ a good time for you?" she demanded, stomping her ballet-shoe clad foot. "Because lately, no time is. All you do is complain, and mope, and turn up late when I invite you somewhere. I don't care how unofficial the dates are – if you don't want to come, tell me. Or if you don't like me, tell me that, too. Because you're messing with my head and I don't care how hot you are, it's unacceptable!"

It took her a few minutes for Rosalie to catch her breath. Edward's eyes were motionless rivers; he didn't share anything in his expression. It was almost like her speech had gone unheard to him. Then he sighed.

"So, Friday?" he said after clearing his throat awkwardly. Rosalie's expression softened.

"Friday," she answered.

...

Forks' new steak house – opened just a mere few months ago – was jam-packed with the odd tourist; regulars of the diner just across the street who wanted to compare food; seniors who just didn't feel like cooking. Teenagers on dates. A whole bunch of council members having a private meeting in a V.I.P area besides the new, cut-off bar section. Rosalie looked, but she couldn't see her father anywhere.

Edward led the way towards the table, with Rosalie and Tyler and Carmen – she'd coaxed them to come along so she wouldn't be alone with just Edward and her nerves – following. The place was nice, but truthfully Rosalie only wanted to come along to see if she could spot her dad in the meeting. And since she couldn't, she was pretty bummed. Though Edward had actually turned up and worn a nice shirt, so she was grateful for that.

"So, tell me about Edward Cullen," she prompted a quarter of an hour later when Tyler and Carmen had gone to order food and drinks to leave them alone. Rosalie hoped they'd be so interested in the bar they wouldn't come back for a while.

"Um, what?" Edward asked airily.

"You know, who are you? I feel like you know me, but all I know about you is that you read." Rosalie's mouth twisted into a frown. "And that you hate your brother for a reason I'll probably never understand. I mean, my brother can be a pig, sure, but I could never _hate_ him."

"Your brother is younger than mine," he mumbled moodily. Rosalie cocked an eyebrow, wanting to ask how he knew about Henry. Then he carried on without looking up, staring into his coke glass. "I moved here because my dad got a job. My mom builds houses and re-decorates for a living. My dad is a doctor and he works for the council," he said in a reciting-tone as though he'd been given a script to say all that.

Dr Cullen wasn't at the meeting. She wondered if the job had gotten too much for him after another girl went missing; the body, dead or alive, had not been found yet. Council members were beginning to lose hope, and some were dropping out from their positions. Had Dr Cullen? Therefore leaving him with just his doctoring job? That was, Rosalie assumed what he was best at, considering he was the head of neurosurgery.

"Forget it," she muttered.

Tyler and Carmen reappeared a few minutes later, unaware of the awkward atmosphere surrounding the table. They mostly talked, even when dinner had arrived and they were halfway into their courses. Suddenly, Edward's pupils dilated – in fear? In shock? Rosalie just didn't know – and then he stood up.

"I have to go," he announced, his tone taking on that of somebody much older than him.

Rosalie glared at his illuminated face. They'd chosen a table just under one of the huge lamps hanging from the ceiling and it gave a horrible, almost spotlight-like illumination over the four of them. So of course everybody in a three-table radius had turned to look at them.

"You can't just... go, man," Tyler said, glancing between Rosalie and Edward. She knew that world war three would start if Edward left, and he wasn't quite looking forward to staying behind in the restaurant to clean up Rosalie's smashed dinner plates.

"I have to," Edward said, defeated. He didn't want to see Rosalie's expression; he already saw it in his head and he doubted the real thing and his imagination would be that much different.

Rosalie stared at her plate. The steak was far too bloody and had leaked out all over her plate. The vegetables were hard, and she didn't even enjoy the sneaky red wine she'd ordered on her father's credit card. Screw the food, and screw her date.

"Edward," Carmen reasoned. She pointed at his plate. He'd hardly touched the food.

"I'm so sorry," he croaked. Then he grabbed his coat, dropped a few bills on the table (enough to cover at least his and Rosalie's meals and drinks) and exited.

"Goodbye!" Rosalie shot to him evenly. Her voice cracked as she turned to her friends and said, "I think that's my cue. Thanks." Her eyes flashed to the bills on the table and she frowned. Well, at least he'd been decent enough to pay.

...

Edward struggled to keep up with his parents. They had been feeding, and when he'd arrived, they were running towards their next prey, so they hadn't heard him coming. He ran and ran, almost knocking into a few trees. Then an idea hit him.

He ran carelessly, so that he would be hitting trees, bushes, all kinds of shrubs/plants in the Forks forest, pulling them out of the ground usually. It took a few minutes, but then recognition flashed in Esme's mind. She stopped in her tracks, and faced Edward.

"You could have just shouted," she said sadly, glancing at the trees. Edward shot her an apologetic smile; Esme would probably be replanting the things in the following days, not bearing to see such a beautiful landmark torn apart.

"I did," he said. Then Carlisle stopped, too. He glanced at the trees, but seemed to decide it wasn't worth it.

"What's up, son?" he asked. A little bit of blood had splashed around his mouth, making him look more like a disobedient child than a father figure.

Esme wiped the blood away with her sweater sleeve, whispering under her breath out messiness. Then her golden eyes glittered. "Did you see something?"

Edward nodded. "They're heading east," he elaborated. "They're either trying to get away from us or trying to cover something they've already done." He frowned. "Where are the others?"

"Hunting," Carlisle said, meaning Eleazar.

"Probably bombarding the hospital blood stock," answered Esme, meaning Irina and Emmett.

Edward nodded in understanding. They'd catch up soon, and even if they didn't, Irina could lead them both towards where she remembered the chase from last time. Or Emmett could track them using scent, if it was strong enough. If Edward could locate their thoughts, his brother could locate them using scent, right?

Then Edward's eyes flashed with uncertainty. His pupils dilated again, and then they hardened. "It's now. It's it. They're coming."

...

**AN: **So I can confidently say that this is one of the last chapters to have strong Edward/Rosalie scenes as now we're getting into more Emmett/Rosalie and Edward/Bella. Less the latter because it is a Emmett/Rosalie fic, though I have almost failed on that front, right? Don't hate me! In fact, there's an Emmett and Rosalie moment next chapter. Yay!

Also, the vampires aren't so hard to guess. Really, when I tell you who they are, you're probably going to be like "... huh? Really? That's so obvious!" Because admittedly I couldn't be more creative if I tried. So, if you know them, great. If not, you will... just not yet! I'm going to hold off the vampire scenes this next few chapters (at least more than I have been) and focus on more romance/friendships/things like that.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: **I think I've left a few bits unexplained such as the scars, the fact the Cullens (and most vampires, actually) can change their eyes from the natural colour they had as humans and the golden/red/black as vampires. I'm not sure if there are more, but I will explain those either in my author's notes or in the actual chapters just so you're not thinking: "wait, what? This wasn't in the books!"

Also, the fact that the vampires aren't sparkling in the sun. Well, thanks to the Vampire Diaries, I proposed that they should just wear rings that protect them from the sun. That's a pretty simple one. (It also may be used other than in the Vampire Diaries and I'm just forgetting/do not know about these.)

As much as I'd like to (may as well admit it), I do not own Twilight. I like to mess with the characters as well as switch some things around. Sorry, SM!

...

**Chapter Nine**

Rosalie sat at the new bar in the quieter section of the steak house, drowning her thoughts in her martini. It was early on Sunday, an odd time to be drinking at all, let alone by herself. The only other person at the bar was an old Chinese man who wore purple leather pants as though he was still living in the seventies, and the barman who initially refused her service until the town council's second public meeting in the place had finished. Then, every alcoholic drink was all hers if she wanted it.

She'd decided to slip off the barstool when somebody brushed past her back, pulling out a chair two stools away and sitting down. She glanced at him under her lashes, and then frowned.

"No date, princess?" Edward Cullen's older brother Emmett wondered as he signalled the barman. Rosalie noticed a gold monogrammed ring on his pinky finger and squinted at it. It looked like the weird wrap-bracelet Edward wore around his wrist, though in much smaller form.

"Apparently not," she answered. The barman returned with his drink and Emmett waved his hand in Rosalie's direction. "I'll just have the same," she told him.

"Aren't you a little young to be drinking that much?" the barman asked suspiciously. He leant against the wood, obviously refusing to serve her even when, technically, it was Emmett's order and would go on his tab. Rosalie blushed from under a curtain of blonde hair.

"Aren't you a little young to be hitting on seventeen year old girls?" Emmett countered. He raised his eyebrows in a _well? Where's my drink?_ sort of way.

Both Rosalie and the barman went to protest. "I didn't," he said loudly in his New Jersey accent, while Rosalie argued, "Absolutely not." Emmett cut them off with another wave of his pinky-finger-monochrome-ringed-hand.

"Just get the lady her drink, Romney." Emmett rolled his eyes. He was done with that conversation.

"_Romney_?" Rosalie asked once the barman had, with a flushed, angry looking face, cleared away to fetch their drinks.

"Don't say you didn't see the resemblance," he responded. Then he swiftly slid across the two chairs so he was sitting side-by-side with Rosalie, and turned to her with his eyebrows raised, eyes-widened in a casual way. "So, seriously no date?"

"Nope," she said. "Why? Are you offering?"

The barman returned with their drinks, shooting Rosalie a challenged, annoyed glare. She smiled sheepishly and raised her glass in thanks. Emmett frowned. "Your demeanour suggests you just exited a relationship and you're drowning sorrows in a bar I have no doubt your daddy paid for," he said matter-of-factly, as though he had it all figured out.

Rosalie glared at him. "I was never in a relationship, jerk. Your brother and I... we just went out a few times. I was being nice, showing the new kid around. It's been almost a month; he's not new anymore. And my daddy" – she quoted with her fingers forming air speech marks – "didn't pay for anything in here. Isn't your dad the one who funded this all, considering he's the head of town council?" she accused. She considered adding the fact nothing really had been done to prevent the strange human/animal/beast/freak monster attacks in the town, but then decided against it. She wasn't that cruel.

"He's not my dad," Emmett said quickly. He glared at the inside of his glass, and then took a sip of the gooey, maple-syrup-textured golden stuff that Rosalie hated. "I couldn't care less what he funds and what he doesn't. But maybe I should tell him his new bar is serving minors."

"Hey!" Rosalie protested. She went to add about how he was the reason she had a fourth martini in hand. He raised his hands.

"Kidding, princess," he said dryly. She went to protest the name, too, but he carried on talking and she didn't really have the energy to argue with another Cullen. "And I didn't mention my brother – you did. Therefore something must have gone on."

Rosalie was furious with herself that she blushed, yet again. Though this time because of his accusing, strangely quizzical, strangely _handsome_ smirk. He cocked one eyebrow. Eventually, she sighed. "He didn't turn up to the bonfire. He left my party without even talking to me. Do you think he saw us together? I mean, dancing."

Emmett tensed. "I have no idea. But if he got pissed, it was probably because I'm a better dancer than him. Don't worry about it," he said with a wink.

Rosalie smiled. She was a lot more comfortable now than when she had first met Emmett at the bonfire, and he wasn't a bad date substitute. Though she'd argue that in fact it wasn't a date, it certainly felt like one. She even heard the gossiping sophomores of her school some point later who were so caught up on both Emmett and Rosalie's beauty that they forgot all about Edward for a second.

Subsequently, Rosalie found herself forgetting about Edward, too.

...

"So why did you bring me here again?" Bella wondered aloud, staring at the La Push cliff landscape, trying to form a smile. She'd only just started talking to Jacob again, and then he'd dragged her along for some hike across the cliffside. Every so often, he would clutch her shoulders and pretend, while keeping a hold of her tightly, that he was going to push her over the side. Vexed, she would shoot him harsh glares, confused as to why he'd suddenly gone from lovely teenage boy with shaggy hair and baggy, misshapen clothes, to a broody, moody teenage boy and then back to what he had been in the first place.

"Don't you like it?" Jacob asked. He stared in the same direction Bella was looking. From there, they could see Jacob and his family's abode and his red-bricked, falling-apart school which inhibited only about one, two hundred students.

"Not particularly," she replied, her face scrunching up. For a moment, she felt like Jacob was going to tell her that he had brought her there to cliff dive. As a child, she'd watched the self-proclaimed bad-asses as they took their stances at the top of the cliff and then proceeded to jump, arms and legs flailing, into the grim, miscoloured water without a care in the world. Then she'd run to the edge of the grisly bank, teary-eyed, waiting for them to make a reappearance.

"It's also quiet up here," Jacob went on, oblivious to her discomfort. His fingers ran lazily over the inner-label of his grey, worn jacket.

"Why do we need quiet?" Bella questioned incoherently.

"So I can talk to you," he said shyly.

"You can talk to me at home," she reminded him. What so different up here than in Bella's fresh-from-childhood bedroom? Other than the warmth, the cosy seating and the smell of Christmas incense sticks. Jacob shook his head.

"Not about this," he told her and hoisted his backpack higher on his shoulders. "I think there's a small cafe at the top somewhere. Shall we grab a coffee and sit down?"

Bella assumed he'd meant sitting inside the modest cafe with warm steam from their coffee mugs leeching into the air and making their skin prickle with just-out-of-the-cold goose-pimples. Instead, he'd led her towards a little rock section outside of the cafe, which only had about two visitors inside who seemed to know the owners very well. Once outside, Bella could already feel the cold air snatching the warmth from her coffee so she downed it quickly, feeling it slip down her throat and boiling her insides.

Jacob didn't seem to be interested in his drink. He sat down on a slimy, moss-covered rock while giving Bella the cleanest of the bunch. She would've thanked him, had he not delved straight into what he was itching to say.

"Have you heard about the old folklore tales my father and his friends used to pass around?" he asked. His shaggy hair flew in front of his hands courtesy of the wind and he didn't bother to push it away. Bella narrowed her eyes, thinking deeply, and then shook her head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she answered. "Unless you mean..." Charlie was just as clueless as she but that didn't mean he hadn't heard them and passed him on. One time, on a whim, he'd mentioned something of one of these tales to her while eating breakfast. It was about two years ago, just after she'd moved to Forks again. The story was about some kind of unpleasant huge beast, and Bella honestly wasn't interested; she'd spent the time after her move contemplating dying her hair pink and cutting it all off to defy her clueless, lovable father just as much as she'd shocked, appalled her kooky, dowdy mother with her eyebrow piercing and love for ripped or leather clothing. It was after her mother had married Phil and mentioned the possibility of an upcoming move across country with Phil's pathetic, failing baseball team.

"I'm talking about vampires, Bella," Jacob said sourly; his face contorted as he'd said the words. Bella gaped, gasped. _Vampires, _she repeated in her head. Now she knew why he wanted quiet.

"Then no," she mumbled, feeling oddly warm again, like somebody – some kind of God – had sensed her chattering teeth and shaking, almost-blue fingers and had turned a heater in her direction. Maybe it was her red cheeks. She always blushed when she was nervous, angry, excited... Well, she just always blushed. Now wasn't a foreign time.

Jacob shot straight into a nerving, preposterous tale about "The Cold Ones". The origin, he started with. Bella didn't think she was imagining the hatred tone his voice had taken on, and her arms were coated in more goose-pimples. He told her about the Quileutes – some kind of ancient tribe his grandfather had belonged to. Bella didn't pretend to understand what on earth he was talking about.

A few words stuck in her mind, though. _Vampires_ – "we call them The Cold Ones. Your people call them blood drinkers, vampires." _Wolves_ – "our brothers, supposedly, are wolves. Well, shape-shifters. I don't know the difference. As shape-shifters, they can't shift into the shape of, I don't know, a bumblebee. Just huge dogs. Wolves." _Treaty_ – "it's not safe for The Cold Ones to come onto our land. That's here; that's La Push. There was a treaty, but many are known to break it. And the shape-shifters can't do anything about it because that means they're more likely of getting caught."

Once he was finished, it took a few moments for Jacob to catch his breath. His previous dark, sullen expression changed to that of a grinning maniac. "Scary stuff, huh? Good thing I know it's not true."

"And how do you know that?" Bella asked him shakily. "And who the hell are _my people_?"

Jacob laughed. The sound echoed over the cliffs, over the hills. Bella swore she heard a howl from somewhere inside the forest and a rock-sized lump formed in her throat.

"Humans," Jacob responded airily, flapping around his fingers in a bid to be spooky. Bella glared at him, for the first time in their life-long friendship actually, genuinely, sickeningly _scared_ of him. "Now, come on. Want to go get a slice of lemon pie? We can sit inside this time."

"Actually, I want to go home," Bella said, standing up dizzily. _Vampires. Wolves. Treaty. _All in the small town of Forks. _Shape-shifters. The Quileutes. Blood drinkers._

"Bells, like I said, I know it's all not true. God, I'm sorry I even told you now," Jacob said. He ran his fingers through his hair and pulled a face. Bella swore she heard a second howl, and she leapt off the rocky area. She wondered if Jacob, her best friend, knew just how inadvertently scared, sick he'd just made her. These stories were certainly scary, and the image of blood-lusting vampires sparked in her mind. Jacob's confession that he was related to some of these shape-shifters. The red eyes he'd described them as having.

She may as well have just swallowed her heart. "Wait," she said, spinning around, whacking into Jacob's strong chest. "Red eyes?"

Another thought cropped into her mind. She was back three weeks ago, in the forest, a tangled mesh of metal – a motorcycle – lying at the top of the impossibly large hill. An attractive stranger's red eyes looming over her, his pointed, ultra-white teeth pulled into a grimace, a snarl – but almost a _smile_. _"Isabella..."_

_Vampires._

...

"So what do you know about Isabella Swan?" Emmett shouted over the music. It was almost eleven on Sunday night, and somebody in the bar had turned the song to something completely modern and unknown to Emmett. Still, he liked to see Rosalie dance. Occasionally, he danced, too. But he was mainly just watching how carefree, high-spirited she was. A pig-tailed girl wearing something envious of Britney Spears' outfit in _Hit Me Baby One More Time_ eyed Emmett and he shot her a smirk. She giggled.

Rosalie shot Britney's look-a-like a glare. The once quiet, bar section of the steak house had turned into a dance floor, and the girl sunk away at Rosalie's glare with a petrified glow in her brown eyes to dance somewhere else. Then Rosalie frowned, walked over to where Emmett was at the pool table and sighed. "She's a little bit of a freak and a little bit of a self-hating mess. Why?"

"I think my brother is interested in her," he lied. In his defence, Edward _had_ been wrecking his brains over the fact he couldn't hear anything Bella thought. But Emmett thought he was past that, that he'd given up his un-vampire-esc power when he'd learnt how to control it. Still, he wasn't interested in Bella as a person if not her strange ability to block out Edward from her head.

On Saturday morning, the six of them had come into contact with another vampire, Laurent, who told them that his male and female counterparts – who really he had just been spying on the whole three months – had turned away from Port Angeles, blowing their scheme into the water. Emmett had later caught Edward enquiring with Laurent about this strange, unwillingly secretive girl to see if he knew anything about it.

Rosalie stiffened. But then another song came on and she grabbed Emmett's hand, placed down her drink and shook her hips joyfully. "Okay now you _have_ to dance!" she said to him. He tried to shake his head, say no, but his blonde non-date had already pulled him onto the makeshift dance floor and started swaying to the beat.

The music repulsed him but he still danced anyway. Rosalie liked his dancing, because though he had muscles and was tall, he was good at it, like he'd taken classes for every single type of dance invented. He grinned down at her and for the first time she noticed how handsome he actually was. The other times, his attitude had out-spunked that. But now she saw it – his dark, short curly hair; the dimples when he smirked or grinned; his jawline, his cheekbones; his soft brown eyes – she couldn't blame the girls for hitting on him that night.

"You're a lot cooler than your brother, you know," she said, smiling.

He sighed, smiled playfully, seemingly satisfied. "You're not the first person to tell me that," he said, winking.

Rosalie grinned. It was nice to be friends with at least one of the Cullens, though originally Emmett hadn't been her first thought.

A blonde-haired, light-blue-eyed girl who was wearing casual jeans and a flowing white t-shirt with Converse shoes appeared behind Emmett, joined by the same guy she'd seen at her party, the man. They smiled politely, though the girl's held a competitive, almost sharp edge. Rosalie turned to Emmett, raised her eyebrows and stopped dancing.

The blonde reminded her of Tanya, and anybody who reminded her of Tanya was somebody she didn't want to talk to. Wondering whether she should flee, she glanced at Emmett so he could explain. All he did was roll his eyes.

"Don't worry about them. They usually invite themselves places," he said, introducing them as Eleazar and Irina. "Places where they're_ not invited_," he shot backwards. Irina, the blonde, pouted at Emmet and poked his ribs with a pointy-nailed middle finger.

Eleazar just shook his head. "Rosalie," he said, picking up her hand and kissing it. His voice sounded like her uncle who had moved to Spain when he was a teenager; Spanish, but not quite. She smiled. Polite, respectful _and_ half-Spanish. A lovely combination.

"Alright, 'bye." Emmett rolled his eyes again. He'd stopped dancing, too, but when girls accidently bumped into him, he didn't apologise. They saw him, blushed, and turned back to dancing, not daring to speak. Though some gave him appreciative glances up and down.

"Oh, we're not going anywhere," Irina giggled. "Who knew Forks could be so fun?"

Rosalie shrugged her shoulders lightly, assuming she was being asked. To be honest, Irina-the-blonde had a point. Forks had never been the most fun place.

Somebody in the far corner caught her eye and she stopped completely. A shiver rolled down her spine. "Oh, God," she muttered, and then cursed. Her dad was sitting at one of the grand, mahogany tables, whiskey in front of him and... Harry Clearwater on his other side.

Rosalie didn't have time to question it, nor did she particularly want to make a scene in front of her strict father and her new friend and his friends. "I have to go," she said, picking up her handbag and starting to clear through the throng where people were moving deferentially for Rosalie.

Emmett glanced over his shoulder at whatever Rosalie had paled at. He recognised the two faces clearly – Harry Clearwater and Robert Hale, Rosalie's dad. Eleazar caught his stare and raised a questioning look. "What's the matter?" he asked. Irina stopped dancing with a pallid, green-eyed, shaggy-haired boy and turned also.

"What?" she wondered. "Who's that?"

"That's Rosalie's father," Emmett said, raising his glass. He took a long swig before letting out his breath. "The town's chief undercover vampire hunter."

...

**AN: **Aw no. Stupid Mr Hale had to show up and ruin their little non-date. Well, at least now you know who the vampire hunter(s) is/are, as if you didn't already! I liked writing this chapter because you got to see a little more Emmett/Rosalie. I was getting sick of pretending I enjoy Edward and Rosalie together. Yuk.

Also, Bella is being self-aware. Yay! Now that she knows about vampires and wolves/shape-shifters, it's up to her to decide what to do with that information. I'm thinking a little more Edward and Bella moments are coming up in the next few chapters.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN:** I feel like I should take this chapter back to basics and introduce the characters and the school a little bit more, you know. I was re-reading Twilight (do not ask me why. I think watching "Alex reads Twilight" on YouTube just made me want to pick it up again) and I thought, half of the characters Bella meets, I haven't even introduced. I've just brought most of my own favourite characters forward because that's who I want to be prominent in the story. I don't actually know if that makes sense but this chapter will be a lot less vampirific and more high school, teen drama/romance.

I don't own Twilight. I also don't own any Twilight-related profits. Stephenie Meyer and EL James, yo.

...

**Chapter Ten**

Forks High School's annual Sadie Hawkins' dance was set to take place that coming Friday and had thus fur decorated the hallways, the classrooms with little plastic, red or pink hearts. Apparently, according to the prom committee who were subsequently organising this dance, the hearts were a symbol. Every girl would have to take a heart, and give it to the person they were going to ask to the dance.

A simple yet corny-romantic way of asking somebody to the dance if you were too nervous to actually say the words.

"Who are you going to ask to the dance, Rosalie?" a kind, brunette-haired girl with wide-rimmed glasses and a tendency to take photos of you when you were least expecting it (she was on the school's yearbook council) asked. Her Polaroid camera hung from a string around her neck. Angela Webber stood at her locker, fingering the lens cleaning cloth obsessively.

Rosalie shrugged. "I don't think I'm going to go," she answered, pulling a few books out of her locker and chucking them into her Chanel schoolbag.

Angela's jaw fell open. "You have to go, Rose. That should be, like, against the law for you not to go. Everybody's counting on it," she said, blushing furiously.

Rosalie was co-head of the prom committee – the actual head being a nasal-voiced, dark haired senior girl who never actually showed up on time to the meetings – so of course it was expected. But she just didn't feel like going. The pathetically cheesy love hearts were so ridiculous; she couldn't actually imagine using one of them to ask somebody to some high school dance.

"I just think that we should experience every single high school event," Angela continued philosophically. "I never thought you'd turn it down."

"I'll think about it," Rosalie replied nonchalantly.

Angela smiled. "Um, actually, could I... take a picture of you?" she asked. "I mean, it's for the yearbook. I know its months away but I really want to capture the spirit of Valentines' week. And I think everybody would like to see their favourite girl on their favourite week."

Rosalie smiled back. Even though Angela was borderline nerdy, she was okay, really, despite her friendship with Rosalie's arch-rivals Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley, who had flirtatiously batted their lashes at Edward that morning in the parking lot. Amusingly, he ignored them.

Rosalie smiled at the camera, holding up one of the small red hearts from Angela's palm. Then Angela took another of Rosalie kissing the edge of a pink one. "Thanks," Angela replied gratefully. She bit her lip and held out one of the Polaroid's. "Um, if you want, you can have this one. I'm sure we'll take enough at the dance if you decide to come."

Angela handed Rosalie the one of her smiling, and Rosalie took it and studied it carefully. She looked genuinely, beautifully happy. Her eyes flashed with mysteriousness, playfulness and kept secrets. Her long, pale blonde hair fanned out behind her like she was in a Victoria Secrets' commercial. So why didn't she feel as great as she looked?

She'd been thinking for weeks that her father was hiding something from the council. But why would he go behind their back? Was their some kind of prize or award for what he knew? And that was it – she knew he knew something that they didn't. And seeing him with Harry Clearwater, who had given Rosalie a painting, a strange one, at that, of the half-human, half-monster blood lusting creature, tipped it all off.

If Harry knew something that could potentially protect, save the town, did that mean her father did, too? Had he told her about his short but meaningful meeting with Rosalie?

She didn't even know what she was supposed to make of it all.

Somebody's hands grasped her shoulders and she jumped. Tanya and Kate, who were wearing ridiculously hideous, matching red and pink blazers respectively, smiled broadly, holding a heart to match their blazer each.

"Do you know who you're going to ask to the Hawkins' dance yet?" Kate asked. Rosalie shook her head. Did she look like she was carrying around one of those silly little hearts? Angela had taken with her the little hearts from her palm, probably going to meet Eric or Ben in chess club and choose between the only two guys in school who found her remotely interesting.

"Well, I think I'm going to ask Garrett," Kate said, perking up. When had she gotten so confident? "Just as friends, though. He's four years older than me and that's kinda weird. Right, Rose?"

Rosalie didn't think she was imagining the subtly harsh tone Kate's voice had taken on. Suddenly, she didn't want to be around them. Tanya was smug as usual, a smile gracing her face that claimed she was better than everybody. Well, she wasn't. Rosalie wasn't going to stand around and let her parade around like it was _her_ school. It wasn't. If anything, it was Rosalie's.

Just then she knew what she was going to do. Bending down, she snatched Tanya's red heart from her hand and, ignoring the following protest, walked right over to Edward Cullen's locker, where a few girls where already standing.

"Shoo!" she commanded, and they did. She turned to Edward and smiled gracefully, even though she was feeling the least bit graceful standing with him. In fact, she wanted to stuff the heart and the school's tradition where the sun doesn't shine. "Edward Cullen," she said softly, sweetly, an obvious facade. "Will you do me the honour of being my friend-date to the Sadie Hawkins' dance this Friday?"

Edward grinned. Rosalie Hale, bitchy as ever, was speaking to him again. He didn't blame her for ignoring him, if he was honest, but he was glad she had put it aside. "If not, Tanya will be asking you – no, forcing you – to go with her and nobody wants that," she warned.

Edward took the heart from her hands after pretending to think about it. "It will be _my_ honour," he corrected, then kissed her hand gently. She smiled, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, freakshow, but it's just as friends," she said the last bit louder to the girls and boys who had crept up in the hallway to listen, sure that Edward or Rosalie would be their date respectively. Of course, the two most sought after students in the school, everybody wanted them.

Edward couldn't help to notice somebody behind Rosalie, possibly the only person in school who wasn't wearing some form of red or pink. It was Bella, wearing a pair of simple jeans, lace-up, scuffed brown boots and a green-ish, grey-ish hooded sweatshirt. She glared into a mirror in her locker and frowned at the sight. Then eyed a little red heart floating past her head – the prom committee had even hung them from strings from the ceiling – and scrunched up her nose.

Edward watched her and thought of Laurent. Though he didn't show it, secretly he was losing his mind over not being able to hear her thoughts. While he could shut them out, there was a strange buzz around Bella. Admittedly, as the biology lessons passed, the buzz got almost quieter, softer. But it didn't make it any easier – even with years and years of learning self-control, her scent was so strong, so sweet (not sweeter than Rosalie's, but definitely stronger) that he found it hard to be around her for more than a few minutes.

He would go hunting all Thursday night just to be certain the painfully obvious scars – which he'd be so stupid to wear to school one month earlier – didn't show up and expose him again. Only recently had the rumours of Edward's adoptive/just too-young parents beating him had died down. Luckily, they hadn't thought it had anything to do with what it really was.

Bella looked up now and her frown deepened. Rosalie's gaze was ping-ponging between the two of them and then she let out a loud sigh. "Just go and talk to her," she advised Edward, who was trying hard not to. Could he manage a simple conversation other than the weather?

Finally, the bell rung. Students of the school walked to their respective classes. Angela shot Rosalie a smile, waving the Polaroid of Rosalie kissing the heart in the air and muttering a thank you as she walked towards her French class. Mike Newton, who was back from his break in Florida, waved at Bella while staring at Edward. Alice, the girl who attended therapy along with Bella, waved also at Bella, and Rosalie wondered when this friendship triangle had formed and why.

Rosalie pulled down the hem of her oxford blue shirt and cleared her throat. "I don't want to be late for class," she said, glancing at Edward. He'd buried himself in his textbook, starting in the opposite direction to Bella. For her part, Bella stared after him, cocking her head to one side. Rosalie felt frustrated that she couldn't tell what was going on. Had Emmett actually been serious when he'd said Edward was interested in Bella? Did Bella feel the same?

Rosalie headed towards the stairs for her graphic design class, feeling out of place, ignored and useless: the three things she feared being most in the world.

...

Bella's fingers glided easily over the computer keyboard. In third grade, she'd done a presentation on vampires, focusing on a film called The Little Vampire which she adored. Rosalie had jumped at the slide of the PowerPoint with a picture of somebody baring fangs on. Of course, Rosalie the primadonna princess hated things like that. Bella was fascinated.

Or she used to be fascinated.

The Google search engine popped up with vampires, Bella's query. She sucked in her breath as she began deleting searches for things like Dracula; a gothic fan website with graphic pictures of basic vampires; The Little Vampire (which made Bella believe Jacob's story to be silly, thinking of the film with the young vampire and his best friend. Those vampires were harmless in comparison to Jacob's myth).

A site with an unsure web address popped up. Bella clicked the link, her palms clammy. _Vampires, also known as The Cold Ones, bloodsuckers or the undead. _She read the opening paragraphs, deciding to click off it when she noticed something else. A photo of a supposed vampire with red eyes and blood trickling from its 'O' shaped mouth appeared. She studied it carefully, from the throng of people watching the apparent crucifixion of this vampire to the ancient words at the bottom that she couldn't make out.

As Bella strove for more information, Jessica Stanley passed, popping her gum and grinning at Bella. "Hey. Glad to see you're back in school," she said nasally, and then disappeared out of the library. Bella turned back to the website, which she'd minimised upon seeing Jessica. Shakily, she pressed the print button on the web bar and two minutes later, two sheets of paper appeared on the printer two seats away from her. One, the paragraphs, the definitions, the stories. Two, the picture of the vampire crucifixion, with its cold red eyes staring, accusing, at her.

...

The school's large gymnasium had been rid of the smell of basketballs, volleyballs and replaced with the smell of flowers, the girlish scent of roses which were set up in little vases on the tables. Red, pink and white stringed banners hung from the ceiling, and cheesy, radio Valentines Day music played over the stereo. A Justin Bieber record, repetitive and childish, made a line between the hundred or so students in the hall; the ones who liked the song, dancing and the ones who didn't, sitting at the little tables.

Rosalie sat at a table, playing with the hem of her red sheer dress. The smell of roses was making her feel sick and the song was giving her a headache. Plus, she'd lost Edward somewhere a few minutes ago when Angela interrupted their dancing to take photos of Rosalie in the mock photo-booth area set up at the other end of the hall.

All in all, the day hadn't gone to plan. Even Kate, who worshipped Justin Bieber, was having a better time; she had been dancing with Garrett since the start of the dance two hours ago. Thankfully, Tanya was nowhere to be seen, so her mocking, devilish eyes couldn't pick on Rosalie while she danced with a college guy or something that worked at her dad's hardware store.

Eventually, after a few Justin Bieber songs had turned into Jay-Z – and everybody leapt out of their seats to dance – Rosalie stood, not wanting to sit alone any longer, planning to find Edward and ask him if his father had seen anything peculiar or was acting weird lately like hers was. She walked over to the drinks' table, needing a red cup of safety-punch – what she called the non-alcoholic fruity drink – before she did.

"We're limiting everybody to one each," Ben, the chess club, photography nerd – Angela, but male – said when Rosalie arrived. He handed her the red cup. "It's our special recipe. It's going out quickly."

Rosalie glanced at the full bowl and frowned. Nobody was even standing there, and she felt like more of a loser than she had sitting down before. Turning, she eyed the couples dancing on the floor with their arms flailing, mouths opening to try to sing along. Tyler and Carmen; Garret and Kate; Mike and Jessica; Edward and Tanya.

_Edward and Tanya_. Rosalie stiffened, feeling the little cup break under her crushing palm. She spun around angrily, grabbing a tissue to wipe the sticky liquid off her hand. Of course, Edward was only her _friend_-date, but Tanya must have believed it was something more – so the great bitch went and stole him from Rosalie.

"Sorry, Rosalie," Ben said. "That's your limit."

She hissed at him, throwing the wadded up tissue into the full punch bowl and cursing. She turned around to walk away, hearing Ben's solemn words but not caring. Somebody tapped her shoulder and she turned on her heel, shouting, "What?"

Emmett was grinning at her as she gained back her cool. "Oh, it's just you," she said as he led her out to the dance floor as she music flipped to a slow song. "What are you doing here?" she added, slightly confused but happy she wasn't alone anymore. Tanya was watching her, mouth open in a small 'O'.

Emmett shrugged, glancing around. Several couples stopped to watch them. "You don't need Edward. He's a kid. Dancing, it's our thing," he said, and spun her around, catching her with a hand on the small of her back.

"He's the same age as me," she said as she leant onto his chest. They started swaying slowly in time to the music, and other couples on the floor rushed to copy them.

Rosalie was glad to have a friend like Emmett. She had to admit, she'd gone in too fast with Edward. Tanya could have him now, relationship or not. Edward was too distracted to be a good addition to her life. She liked people who focused – people who popped up at random times and claimed that dancing was a simple pleasure you shared.

"Hold on," Emmett said after a while. Tanya and Emmett were not dancing anymore. Tanya had started talking to – God, forbid – Lauren, Jessica and Angela, the latter of whom gave Rosalie a sympathetic smile as if she had watched Edward leave Rosalie for Tanya, but then her gaze flicked to Emmett and she cowered a little.

"What's up?" Rosalie asked.

"It's Edward," he said, and then he was gently pushing past Rosalie, muttering an apathetic excuse, saying sorry. When he reached Edward, they engaged in a conversation too heated, too mumbled for Rosalie to interpret. (She'd learned lip-reading recently. How else would she be able to spy on her parents and get the full details about their fights?)

Then Rosalie spotted Bella, who looked cowardly between Emmett and Edward, looking scared. Highlight on Emmett's part. He rubbed his hands to his chin, and then his hands rose in the air slightly. "I didn't know," he said defensively.

"What's going on?" Tyler asked, coming up behind.

"Have no idea," Rosalie said, shaking her head. Carmen was a little to their left, staring at Emmett and Edward and Bella, too. But also Eleazar, the guy who Rosalie had met on one of her friend-dates with Emmett. And Irina, who was glancing around appreciatively at the gangly boys in tuxedos as though each and every one of them had turned into movie stars like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio.

Tyler glanced between Eleazar and Carmen. "Who's that?" he asked Rosalie quietly.

"Emmett's friend," she said.

"Emmett?"

"Edward's brother. Guy from the bonfire," she told him.

"Ah. Bonfire guy. You are friends now?"

"It's complicated," she said gruffly, not wanting to go into any details. Emmett was just the type of guy Tyler and Garrett would get on with swell and she didn't want to have to share him for fear of Tanya and her snatching claws.

Bella let out a small shriek, causing a few people around her to avert their gaze. The room was so jam-packed that nobody even noticed the new additions; Eleazar, who stood at Emmett's side, and Irina, who was frowning into a red plastic cup. They were older – perhaps Emmett's age, around twenty-two/four or something.

Then Bella was leaving, saying to Mike, "I'm going to be sick." Rosalie cocked her head to one side. If only she had bats hearing, she'd be able to see if Bella was angry, upset. But all she got was a wave of nausea at the sight of... Emmett? Eleazar? Irina? No, she didn't even know them. So, Edward?

A little piece of paper floated from Bella's bag. Rosalie walked over to it, picked it up. She was surprised, initially, that Bella had even come. She loathed school dances. Wondering if Jacob was around, Rosalie glanced around the room. She couldn't see him. Shaking her head, she turned back to the paper.

Her blood seemed to rush to her face. It was the same picture Harry had given Rosalie almost a month beforehand, though along with a bit of writing other than the Arabic or whatever letters at the bottom. It had a title, too. Rosalie squinted so she could read it.

One lone word which was bolded stuck out to her: **vampires.**

**AN: **As I normally say, this chapter was supposed to take a different route. But whatev, it went this way. I hope you liked the little Emmett and Rosalie dance scene. And I know I promised like, no vampire activity, but I couldn't resist making Rosalie just that little bit closer to the truth. Yet so confused.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: **Sorry for the long updates! This chapter was originally well-planned but then... Well, you know me. I can't stop straying even when I'm trying to write in all-seriousness.

I do not own Twilight. SM owns that dontchano?

...

**Chapter Eleven**

It was late Saturday afternoon and Rosalie walked slowly and extra quietly up the stairs of her stately white mansion, plan in mind, picture in hand. Although she'd seen the picture every time she opened her top drawer and didn't necessarily want or need to see it again, it served as a complete reminder of her mission. If her dad was hiding something, now was the time to figure out what.

_Vampires. _Rosalie stared numbly at the picture for what seemed like the hundredth time in a minute (Bella's copy, not her own). She couldn't believe that (a) it was even a possibility, given the complete myth-like, fantasy tales she'd heard as a child and (b) people – apparently, thus far, her father and Harry Clearwater and Bella Swan (which meant perhaps Jacob also) – actually believed it.

Actually, she could believe dark Bella and her twisted mind believed it. Was that why she was in therapy? Because her folklore tale loving self had gotten mixed up in what was easily just some big mistake on her father and Harry's joint behalf? A point that, right now, in her father's office, she was going to prove false.

The door to her father's office loomed so close. She sidled closer and ignored her father's jurisdiction of "stay out of my office at all times – or else." Okay, so he probably didn't phrase it like that. But she hadn't really listened to him in the past few years because all he did was hand out rules and laws that herself and Henry had to follow – or else – because their mother was away and because of this, he deemed himself the responsible adult even though on weekends he never ate cereal with a spoon or got dressed until five p.m. unless he had a super secret work meeting.

"Rosalie?"

Rosalie jumped, almost dropping the picture. She spun around nervously, slowly. That voice, that tone was the same as the one when she was five and had been scolded for dropping her ice-cream on the brand new leather sofa.

"Daddy," she breathed, smiling, slapping her sides. "What are you doing home?"

This weekend, she'd presumed he'd had a super secret meeting, the ones she didn't know about. Apparently not. He stepped forward until he was almost a foot away, and glanced at the door to his office, which was so close Rosalie hated herself. Just a few more steps, she'd be in, courtesy of the key she'd stolen from her mother and father's room. It really wasn't that hard to find.

Mr Hale was bemused. "What are you doing up here?"

Her father's office was second floor and her bedroom was two more flights up. She shrugged. "Going to my room," she said, even though the picture and the key were obvious evidence in her hand that she was snooping. On that note, she folded the picture so he couldn't see it.

"Oh," he said. "In that case, why aren't you by the stairs?" The stairs were on the opposite side of the grand landing which showed the first floor stairs and the equally huge hallway downstairs off showingly, and she was nowhere near them. Mr Hale waited. She shrugged again.

"Never mind," she said, and walked past him to pad up the stairs to her room – her whole floor, in fact. Once inside her room, she flopped down on her bed and sighed into a pillow, surely going bright red. She was so thankful her father hadn't called her back down. Annoyingly, she had another thing to say. In his office, she could have been looking for her heath details for the school trip on Monday to a science centre just outside of Forks on a deserted patch of no man's land. The school had probably saved the place its business. If she'd have said that, anyway, her father would have perhaps taken her inside and she could have done a quick eye-swoop just to check it looked like the normal office of a hardworking man and she was wrong about her father being invested in mythological vampire stories like the weirdoes in La Push.

She looked back up, hearing a noise. It was nearly dark, being that it was winter and everywhere in the world suffered the misfortunes of going dark at around four p.m. Getting up, she walked over to her window, up the little stage, and glanced out past her Juliet balcony towards the forest. She swore, in the midst of the completely dense, green forest, she saw something, a shadow, move behind a set of Titanic sized trees, hiding.

Then came the second howl.

...

On school on Monday, their biology teacher had separated the class into different groups. Tanya, Tyler, Carmen. Kate – who was a supremely smart sophomore so had granted junior access to such trips according to Mrs Mann – and Mike and Eric, who was pining over Angela, because apparently she'd gone back to adoring Ben. (She was in Ben's group along with Jessica and wouldn't leave him alone.)

Rosalie was paired with Edward. Tanya, enviously, gave her evil stares. Rosalie responded with a swift flick up off the middle finger and smirked, though she wasn't feeling so smirky. Vampires. How bizarre. So bizarre, actually, that the damn word and the damn picture hadn't left her mind all weekend. She hadn't even left her house, being so interested in researching.

She didn't find anything other than the Dracula IMDB and Wikipedia page along with pictures and pages of something called The Little Vampire. Whatever that was.

Bella was left without a group of three so had to join Edward and Rosalie in a group with Alice, who was Bella's friend because of the therapy they both attended. An awkward silence occurred with Alice tapping her head oddly and muttering under her breath. Then Ben picked up a worm and flung it across the courtyard of the science centre until it landed right on Bella's sleeve.

Rosalie sunk out of the way, bumping into Alice as she stepped backwards and almost slipped heel:mud ratio. Bella, who didn't have a problem with it, picked up the worm, walked over to Ben and dropped it, hilariously, down his sweater vest. One side of Edward's top lips lifted in a crooked smirk.

"Whoever spots the most on this sheet gets a prize," Rosalie announced, ten minutes into the trip with Edward and Bella following her lead. Rosalie had paired herself with Alice, saying that if they split up, they'd cover more ground. Really, she just didn't want to have to look in the face of Edward every turn.

"What's the prize?" Alice asked, opening up a little.

"No clue," Rosalie responded tiredly. She was feeling very Mother Theresa, taking on weird Alice as her counterpart and leaving Edward to work out his complicated love life and budding relationship/friendship with Ms. Bella Swan, who Rosalie hadn't forgiven for smoking in her bathroom weeks beforehand.

"Shouldn't we split up then?" Bella grumbled, not to Rosalie or Edward or her new sort of friend Alice but to herself. "And what the hell is a _Nepenthes attenboroughii_?"

"You're the one following me," Rosalie said.

"That, my friend, is the classic, founded in 2009, largest meat eating plant in the world," Mr Melina, their teacher, said, his voice rising excitedly.

"What do they eat?" Alice wondered. Rosalie shuddered, carrying on with her own little search. She knew what a Desmodium Gyrans was. The dancing plant. Her old Polish aunt owned one, and Rosalie, as a child, had been obsessed with it.

"Rats, of course!" Mr Melina replied.

Rosalie stopped dead in her tracks. "There are... _rats_ here?" She gulped visibly.

The centre's nearest worker looked up from watering a peculiar looking leafy plant. "Why, of course. To feed it," he said. He exchanged eye contact with Bella and smiled. "Sometimes we let them run around just to train the plants to catch them, or to see if they run in without bait."

"Too much, Kate Middleton?" Bella smirked. This excursion was getting a little better by the minute.

"Let's hope the plant eats you, Wednesday Addams," Rosalie quipped, and then walked off towards the cafe for her daily mocha, muttering something about damn plants.

Two hours and twelve sets of dirty fingernails later, the groups arrived with completed task sheets in their hands. Kate skipped up to Mr Melina, happy with seemingly coming first, until she spotted Edward, Rosalie, Bella and Alice Brandon holding gift certificates to something she didn't know of. She pouted and walked away.

"Well, we won," Alice said, trying to cut the palpable tension. It didn't work. Rosalie was ignoring Edward, and Bella was... _trying_ to ignore him? He watched her with those incredibly quaint eyes slanted, as though he was trying to figure her out. Then he wrinkled his nose and stepped back so he was on level with Rosalie, who was looking at her gift card.

"I could buy this store if I wanted to. I don't need a gift card," she said and then the gift card found its way into the trash. "Pick it out if you want, Bella. I know you'll need it."

Alice wondered when Rosalie Hale – who she remembered used to make huge sandcastles on the beach with paler hair and shining, childlike eyes in fifth grade with Bella and her wolfish friend and then hide from her parents when it was time to go home – had gotten so brazen.

Mr Melina didn't hear her nor did it seem he heard anybody. He glanced incredulously at his phone, then stored it away in his pocket, shaking his head of whatever thoughts occupied him. "Alright," he said shakily. "Everybody on the coach."

Rosalie narrowed her eyes. "Mr Melina?" she said sweetly. He looked up from the coach entrance as the students filed on. "My phones ran out of battery and I need to call my father to see what time he's picking me up. You see, my car is in the garage" – which was a lie; Rosalie had been fixing cars since she was practically eight years old. She was incredibly skilled in that department – "and I'll need to know otherwise I'll have to go home in the rain and it'll take too long."

Bella watched, dumbstruck, as Mr Melina fished out his phone from his pocket and handed it to Rosalie with a smile. "Be careful. It has an extra sensitive touch screen!" Then he was boarding the coach.

Rosalie grinned, and when Mr Melina was gone, rolled her eyes. She looked down on the phone's screen as she entered the coach, moving swiftly past Edward, Tanya and the crew who still thought sitting at the back of a coach or bus made you cool. She sat down besides Alice, who had saved her a seat.

Alice was fairly stylish. It was clear that, if she had more money and maybe didn't live with her adoptive parents Mr and Mrs Yorkie, who owned a small restaurant in town and had almost no stable income, she would have a killer wardrobe. Rosalie considered straight up giving her a Marc Jacobs' purse just so she could transform her into a semi-popular girl and have a friend who wasn't boy-obsessed, slutty or in love with an older guy. Then the coach rumbled into action, and Mr Melina turned to ask Rosalie for his phone.

"He didn't answer," she lied. "Could I text him?"

"Go ahead," Mr Melina said, turning back around, like she wouldn't just ignore him if he'd said no anyway. "Congratulations, by the way. You'll love that gift card!" he shot back. Alice smiled. She really _would_ love it.

Mr Melina had opened a webpage on his phone. The title was a news article reading: NEW CHANGES TO FORKS' COUNCIL, SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS.

Rosalie frowned. That wasn't interesting. She thought that maybe it'd be something like Mr Melina owning a secret, downscale, basement vampire hunter group. That is, if vampires were real. She read on:

The Mayor of Forks has hired a new safety manager – a foreign concept in the town of Forks – who will be working on the cases similar to Olivia Newton.

Rosalie skipped forward and was bored already. So this guy, who the article had named James, was going to be working on safety like... she didn't know, putting up fences, perhaps? Making the already completely ugly Forks even uglier by turning it into a prison? Catching this wild vamp – _beast_ who was murdering the locals?

Mr Melina appeared in the aisle and frowned down at Rosalie as the coach burned rubber and sped past a bunch of monotonous trees. "That doesn't _look_ like you're texting your father," he said accusingly. Everybody in a three seat radius turned to stare at them. Alice blushed by association.

"Yeah?" Rosalie challenged. She flicked to the homepage image of a blonde, busty girl who was wearing a cheerleader's outfit but was at least ten years too old for that sort of activity. "That doesn't look like your girlfriend" – the janitor's twenty-three year old bulbous daughter who wore antiquated hippie clothes and smelled like incense candles. Mr Melina sat with her at lunch, eating peanut butter jelly sandwiches and talking about rat eating plants, she guessed.

Mr Melina raised his eyebrows at shameless Rosalie. But he wasn't surprised. He trailed back to his seat and Rosalie crossed her arms, feeling like she was the dumbest person ever – why did she bother learning all these secrets about people if she couldn't at least use them? She wanted something more scandalous, more life-ruining. If she told anybody about how Kate was scared of the dark, they'd think it was cute, she was that little and young. She needed more! Or the power she'd spent years collecting would just drop, like that, and she'd go back to be the averagely popular girl – still the most beautiful, of course – but average in popularity, none the less.

Edward leant back in his chair, horrified. Bella sat beside him, not even the least bit surprised. "She'd Cruella de Vil. Regret making her your bestie now?" she said, not looking up from her worn book.

"She's not my bestie – whatever that is," Edward grumbled protectively. He was surprised Bella had wanted to talk to him, given how awful he'd been in biology, ignoring her, leaning away. It was just her mind _and_ her scent. It made him crazy.

Bella didn't talk for a while. Then, as the coach rolled to a stop, she wouldn't let him move. "Wait..." She handed him a piece of folded up paper from a notebook. Edward looked at it, confused, but when he looked back up she was already gone. He unfolded it and read what it said with narrowed eyes:

_I know what you are. Meet me in the forest 2.50._

...

"I didn't think you were going to come," Bella said. She had been sitting on a rock in the most secluded part of the forest for the past ten minutes, reading her favourite novel, _Wuthering Heights_. Edward appeared in the shadows, hands in pockets, looking truly mortified.

"I wasn't going to," he muttered cagely.

"Why are you hiding?" Bella said a little shakily. She closed over her book and stood up. "I already know... what you _are_. I'm not stupid. You all think I am, but I'm not."

"I don't think that," Edward said quietly and his forehead creased. Why had _he_ been so stupid to actually come? Why couldn't he have just said that he didn't know what she was talking about? An awkward silence passed. Now, it just felt like he was alone. Bella – and her mind – stayed impossibly quiet.

"Are you scared?" he eventually asked. Bella shook her head. "Well, you should be. If you... _know_."

"Why? If you were going to eat me, you would have done it already," she said matter-of-factly.

Another silence passed. Again, he felt alone. He wanted that, though. Instantly, he knew that if Rosalie had known – which, thank God, she didn't seem to – then she'd freak, probably call her dad, unbeknownst of how powerful he actually was. Bella just stood there in front of him, waiting, with an unflappable expression on her face.

"Are you going to... tell anybody?" Edward managed, dazed. He felt like he was dreaming – maybe, just maybe, this whole second life of his had been a big dream. He was alive, back in the 1800s with his big brother who he idolised, and he was dreaming.

"I don't have anybody to tell," she said after a minute.

"Jacob?" The name left a sour taste in Edward's mouth. Bella shrugged.

"He was kinda the one who told me," she said. Then, on his expression, "Well, not told me. Just told me that vampires existed here. I did some research and voila... But the picture I had has gone missing? I think it was some kind of vampire death. The people were watching."

"Aro," Edward said, wide-eyed. Bella carried on, shrugging.

"Then I saw your brother at the Hawkins' dance. Honestly, I was only going because Mike begged me – literally. So I saw him and all the memories of my accident flooded back. I think... I know this sounds crazy, which apparently I am... but I think my hallucinations were not actually me imagining things but your brother. I think he tried to... _eat_ me."

A pause ensured. Sounds of birds chirping merrily even in the rain sounded. People were just leaving the school, going into their too-expensive cars or miniscule trucks or piling onto the buses. Newly green, spring-is-coming leaves floated in the breeze, waved on the trees. Bella pulled her jacket tighter around her torso.

"That _bastard!_" Edward's hand connected with a smallish tree, sending it flying into the little creek. While they could see the school, nobody could see them, thankfully. The tree lay like a bridge across the mini river and Bella stared at it, shaking.

"So... are you going to eat me?" she wondered woozily. "You are a... _vampire_, right?" She gulped. "You eat – or drink – blood and I have a few pints inside, I guess."

Edward shook his head. "I'm not calling him a bastard because he tried to eat you. If he really did... I would kill him... but that's beside the point. He said he was taking blood from the hospital, which isn't any better, I get it but..." He trailed off, leaving Bella uncertain.

There was a part of her that wanted to run. Hello? Edward was a vampire, and he just punched a tree and removed it from the ground. She was surprised there wasn't a throng of people surrounding them. Though it had been oddly graceful and miraculously quiet. Vampire Perk, most probably.

A part of her then wanted to stay, find out more. She was strangely enamored to this idea. Aside from the fact Edward was totally gorgeous – if Rosalie was Barbie, he was surely her Ken – he was smart, too. At least, he always politely, quietly corrected her in biology when she simply could not be bothered. She was usually too pissed at him to see otherwise, but now that Rosalie and him was out of the question, she was, in a weird way, longing for the anti-Forks thrill that Edward possessed.

"You should run." Edward's tone was confused. In fact, his shoulders were hunched, a sign of defeat. He was just like a confused puppy, but more a vampire. "You don't know how dangerous we are." Bella wanted to bring up a the Little Vampire comparison, but somehow it didn't sit well. Her throat was dry and she was almost scared but she stayed nonetheless.

"Are you going to eat me?" she asked again.

"I don't feed on human blood, Bella," he told her impatiently, as though she should somehow already know that. Jacob knew that. Had he left that out? Of course he had. He was head over heels in love with Bella, and anything to make her stay away from Edward – which she had been doing up until now – would be better for him.

"I feed on animal blood," he said. "My father Carlisle started it years and years ago. Centuries. He brought me up in the same way."

"Is he your actual...?" Bella asked. She wondered briefly, stupidly if he was born a vampire. She suspected all his family were. She knew his brother definitely was.

"Step. Esme is both mine and Emmett's mother but Carlisle is just our step-father," he said. "You know, you should really leave–"

"I'm not going anywhere," she said stubbornly. "You're an asshole, and I deserve an explanation." She ran her hands through her hair and breathed out a sigh of painful relief. She'd had nightmares about this moment for weeks. It'd gone better – yet still weirder – than she'd expected, hoped.

"I just gave you an explanation," Edward said, closing his eyes, hoping to wake up in 18th century England.

"Not a full one. I want to know why – and how – Olivia Newton died. I want to know why people keep disappearing. And I want to... get to know you," she said. The last bit just came out, surprising both of them. "I want to not be crept out every time I look at you because you... you're..." She sighed loudly. "Just... let me in."

Edward managed a crooked smile, giving up trying to send her away. Slowly but surely, he slid the family ring off his finger and stepped backwards. "Okay. Part One: Now, I know this is not what you could imagine–"

"No. Not what I could imagine is vampires living in Forks, of all places. But carry on."

Edward smirked. Then he stepped backwards and Bella gasped. "This doesn't happen to human blood drinking vampires. They burn in the sun while we..."

He spread his arms out, showing off more of his skin. Bella gaped at him. He was so... shiny? And beautiful. Beautiful, but glowing like a million diamonds had been encrusted into his skin. "That's impossible," she breathed. But surely enough, he was like a brilliant diamond like the one Mrs Hale wore around her neck. (She thought wedding rings in the 21st century were tacky and showed an unnatural sign of ownership).

Edward flinched as Bella's hand reached up. "Can I?" He nodded. Her hand stroked the part of visible skin on his chest. The top of his button-down was unbuttoned. He was so cold, that she couldn't really stand it any longer so she stepped backwards and just stared.

A lot of time passed before the ring was back on and Bella was left with the dazzling image in her mind that she was convinced was all a big dream. Then Edward grinned.

"Part Two. If you're ready?" he wondered. Bella nodded; she was ready.

Edward scaled a local tree, began into a stride – then he was no longer on the ground – or on the tree – but high in the air on the tips of the branches – running – running until Bella couldn't see him – he was so _fast_ –

And then he landed. Bella gasped. Stepped back. _Unbelievable_. "So... vampires who drink animal blood are like..." She swallowed. "A cross between Tinkerbell and a spider monkey?"

Edward let out a throaty laugh. "You're too much. So, are you ready for Part Three?"

...

**AN: **I was pleased with this chapter until the ending. I'm not so happy writing about Edward and Bella, if you'd believe it. They're kinda boring, in my mind. I know Bella's reaction was a little tame – tame for me considering how I'd react, not that it'd ever happen, but still. I kinda wanted to play into it more and then I was yawning every two minutes and just thinking, God, where's Emmett? Where's Rosalie? I'm bored.

So, sorry if this chapter sucked. The self-awareness of Bella is a little bit more than in the books, though, right?

More on the Aro picture soon. 'Cause Aro's not dead, is he? ;)


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: **I've hit over one thousand views! :D That's very exciting.

I don't own Twilight. I also don't own Stephenie Meyer's sparklepires. I do own the moderated versions though. (Sorry. I just tried to imagine a sparkling Emmett and thought... nope! I'd rather stick with the vegetarians being the slightly weird ones.)

...

**Chapter Twelve**

"You _idiot_!"

Edward prepared to get harangued but instead felt the steady weight of a lawn chair being thrown at the back of his head. He rubbed the spot it had hit, and then turned around, muttering, "Ow."

Emmett stood in the doorway of the backdoor, blocking the light with his frame. He stared at Edward with his fists clenched. Emmett never hid the malice he felt for Edward but for some reason, Edward found him scarier when he didn't say anything. He flinched.

"You told just about the most connected girl in the whole town that you're... that we're..." Emmett sighed loudly, frustrated. Edward hid a grin. "You told Bella Swan?" he snarled.

Edward flinched again at the mention of Bella's name. "It's not like you didn't cause this. _You_ tried to feed on her – not me. And I could argue that Rosalie Hale is the most connected girl in town, really."

"And I could argue that you're the biggest idiot I've ever met," Emmett deadpanned.

"You've said that," Edward said.

"I don't care. Anyway, Rose doesn't know. I'm not an idiot like you."

"Three times."

"_How_ could you be so _stupid_?" Emmett shook his head. "Carlisle's going to flip shit when he finds out. Or maybe he won't. You're the mind reader and his favourite, why don't you tell me?"

Edward flushed angrily. But Emmett was right: Edward was the family's favourite. That's the reason he was never reprimanded but more given a warning and gained one of Carlisle's famous head-shakes and, "You know better than this," speeches.

"Wait, did you just call her Rose?" Edward chuckled after a few minutes. The lawn chair was now turned over and Emmett sat on it, drinking from an almost empty bottle of Bourbon. He sighed and rubbed the spot between his eyebrows tiredly.

A vampires curse: always, always feeling tired especially when running low on blood.

"It's just a stupid nickname," Emmett grumbled.

"Right," Edward snorted.

Emmett smirked wanly. "Alright, watch it, glitter fairy. We've still got some vampires to catch. Don't make me impale you with a lawn chair before we get there."

...

Snow was just beginning to fall in the early days of March, covering the new green leaves and grass with a layer of ghostly white dust, freezing the branches of the large oaks. Rosalie sat at the steakhouse bar and sipped her martini lazily. She'd invited Emmett along and it was looking like he wasn't going to show until:

"I thought you weren't coming."

"I got stuck in traffic," Emmett said.

Rosalie giggled. "Right, because Forks is always so busy, especially on weekdays!"

"It's a Friday. That's not a real weekday. You told me that right?"

Emmett sat down and reached over the bar for his bottle, pouring some in a little glass for him and Rosalie. An elderly woman who wore far too much jewellery gave him a harsh look from across the bar and he shook his head. "It's medical," he said and placed the bottle back.

"I think she means the fact you just poured it yourself instead of letting the barman do it for you," Rosalie said, smiling. "And I don't like this." She pointed to the glass of – of course – Bourbon and wrinkled her nose. "It's disgusting."

"You're missing out," he said.

"Hmm," responded Rosalie.

Emmett spotted somebody he really didn't have the patience for at the corner of the restaurant and sighed. Mr Hale and his group drinking whiskey and laughing loudly, often making crude jokes or swearing like sailors. Something Edward had said blared in Emmett's mind:

_Distract her._

"What's up?"

"Tell me something nobody knows about you," Emmett murmured, diverting Rosalie's gaze. Rosalie raised her eyebrows; behind her, Mr Hale and co. were just getting up to leave. "And I don't mean Disney guilty pleasures or being a fanilow. Something real."

Rosalie thought it over in her head. Something nobody knew? That would have to be something juicy, the types of things that she knew about other people. But none of the secrets she knew were willingly said to her – except on some occasions which mainly included Kate – she had to work for them. She didn't know how to feel about just saying something out loud to Emmett about herself – nobody ever tried to find out anything about her and won. They all tried, failed.

Then something flashed in her mind. Trust. She trusted Emmett, and she could definitely trust him with a secret.

"I... I think I know something that I'm not supposed to," she said quietly, rolling around the olive from her drink under her finger. "It's about... the town and..." She gulped, searching Emmett's face. He watched her but looked distracted. "About vampires," she said.

Emmett's head shot to her as Mr Hale swung open the door to the steakhouse and exited. Vampires? That was the whole reason he had to distract Rosalie: so she wouldn't find out about her father and become curious like she always did. She was just so nosey, and he was too late.

Emmett shook his head, trying to keep his smirk on his face. He took a sip of his drink. "That doesn't count. Vampires are all about fairytales and grunge kids trying to be all... I don't know, badass. They don't exist. People try and make them exist to make their miserable lives better."

Rosalie paused but then laughter shook her and she choked out, "_Thank God_. Somebody with sense. I was starting to believe everybody in this town was going loony."

Emmett cocked his head to one side but didn't say anything else. So she didn't believe it, which was good. She also didn't see her father as he left – and her father didn't see her – which was also good. Only, Emmett couldn't help wishing that Rosalie would figure out their secret too, just like Bella had. She was smart enough. And it was better now than later when she would hate them all for not telling her – right?

Emmett cleared his throat. "Rosalie, I..."

"It's your turn!" Rosalie chirped happily. "Come on – tell me something that nobody knows about you. And I'm banning Barry Manilow and secretly being obsessed with grunge vampire novels."

"Even if the vampire falls in love with the human?"

"Especially if the vampire falls in love with the human," she said.

"Okay," Emmett replied. "So no Manilow and no Dracula falls for Mary-Jane. How about that I stole my brother's girlfriend when we were younger?"

Rosalie shook her head. "Doesn't count. Your brother knows."

"Alright." Emmett shook his head, laughing. "I used to have a pet dog called Pecas."

"That's too tame. And your family must know."

"I lived away for a while," he said. "They don't know anything about me – at least not from the past few years."

"Well surely if you lived away from them you got up to all kinds of post-college mayhem. Come on," she prompted, "think."

So Emmett did think. Then he surprised Rosalie by admitting: "I witnessed my father's death."

"What? I thought that Carlisle was your dad."

Emmett reached over the counter for the bottle of Bourbon. "Nope. He married my Mom a while ago – er, when I was six – and a year later Edward was born. But before all that, my Dad got in an argument with my Mom about something stupid. I think... well, she was pregnant. But I think she lost the baby, and my Dad blamed her. My Mom became really depressed after that and starting taking all these pills. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I realised she was trying to kill herself. Then something happened, it was their biggest fight yet, and I came in to find my Dad choking. He was doubling over and coughing, going blue in the face, clutching his neck, and then he just fainted. He collapsed, and then he died."

Rosalie sat in silence, stunned. She was surprised that he'd been so open – and that he admitted things that nobody else except his mother probably knew. On this occasion, she was willing to side-step the rules of the game for a second. She leant forward and wrapped her arms around Emmett's neck, surprising him.

"I'm so sorry," she said, tears welling in her eyes. It must have been awful for him to experience. No, worse than that. She couldn't imagine it happening to her or anybody she knew.

"It's okay," Emmett said softly, pulling back. Rosalie pulled away too and sat back down, her face scrunched up sadly, looking particularly young. "I was young, and it's not your fault."

Emmett had always hated that expression. "It's not your fault" – of course not, but they're just trying to comfort you, so let them. Then again, he hated mourning, and he hated that people were so celebratory about mourning. Thankfully, Rosalie didn't seem to want to dwell on what he'd just said, despite its heaviness, so he reached for the bottle, poured himself a glass and even Rosalie, who silently offered her glass.

...

Edward watched Emmett as he came back in the house later that day, hiding his feelings stoically. Emmett had never told anybody about what happened, not even Eleazar and Irina, who were looking to be his closest friends. Carlisle was the person who told Edward at the tender age of eight when Edward walked in on his mother crying over an old picture. It was a picture of Emmett's father Dale McCarty, along with an innocent looking Emmett and radiant Esme, a hand placed on her stomach.

"Are you okay?" Edward asked awkwardly.

Emmett shrugged. "Just get me a drink and I'll be fine."

"Um, you might not want to..."

Edward raised his hand but Emmett was already walking into the living room, hoping for a nice relaxing night by the fire, instead being faced by Bella Swan, the same girl he had tried to eat not three months before.

Emmett turned back to Edward who raised his shoulders lightly. "I tried to tell you," he said defensively.

Emmett sighed.

"_You!_" Bella stood up, an angry expression on her face. "You were the jerk who made me go to therapy, asshole."

"Your level of concern alarms me," Emmett said drily, moving past her and flopping down on the couch. "Give me a break, will ya?"

Bella crossed her arms and studied him. Annoyingly, he was just as attractive as Edward, if you could even compare them. Emmett had dark black hair and ice blue eyes – "wait, shouldn't your eyes be red?"

"Self control," Edward and Emmett said at the same time.

– So he and Edward were polar opposites yet so similar in their mannerisms and speech. She supposed it was a brotherly thing, or a vampire thing. Either way, she found it hard to be pissed at somebody who just oozed charm and flirtatiousness.

"I still hate you," Bella said after a minute, decided. She couldn't be angry at him but she sure as hell could hate him. There was nothing in the unwritten rulebooks about that.

"I still don't know you," Emmett said. "God, people in this town move fast."

"Says you," Bella commented. "Haven't you only known Rosalie for like two months?"

Emmett removed his hand from over his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Bella, the brazen, unpredictable girl who just looked average but apparently was not. Edward had left the room, and he and Bella were alone. She had sat back down on the opposite couch, staring at him. How long had she been like that?

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't play dumbass with me – you're way too smart for that," she said, rolling her eyes. "You and Rosalie, Wicked Bitch of the West."

"She's not a bitch," he said, placing his hand back over his eyes.

"Do you like her?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said. "Why are you in my house?"

"I'm the one asking questions."

"Right."

"So are you not a thing?"

"Nope," Emmett said.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Well people think you are," Bella said, and she stood up. Edward entered the room and raised a questionable eyebrow, handing a can of soda to Bella.

"Like who?" he asked.

"Uh, _everybody_," Bella answered. "Therapy Alice thinks that you too make a _divine_ couple, Emmett."

Edward laughed.

"Ugh, okay," Emmett groaned, kicking his legs around the side of the couch and raising to stand. "You're both crazy," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Right," Bella said. "And you don't like Rosalie."

Edward grinned. Bella didn't seem to be taking the whole thing bad – the thing about the vampire situation that was. In fact, he didn't know why Emmett didn't like her. She was a genius. And what was the worst thing that could happen?

...

**AN: **Little does Edward know. Little does he know. So, I wrote this and re-wrote this about seventeen times (okay, maybe like seven, but shh) and it still didn't turn out the way I hoped. I was like, I'm going to introduce you to the vampires this chapter! And we go Barry Manilow and a lawn chair. But you know what? At least Emmett and Rosalie are making progress. Kinda.

(And Bella is being a smartass about the whole thing.)


End file.
